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THE STORY OF SAINT PATRICK 



THE 



STORY OF SAINT PATRICK 



EMBRACING A SKETCH OF THE CONDITION OF IRELAND BEFORE 



DEATH, AND IMMEDIATELY AFTER IT 



BY 



JOSEPH SANDERSON, D.D., ll.d. 

LATE EDITOR OF " THE TREASURY OP RELIGIOUS THOUGHT " 
AUTHOR OF "JESUS ON THE HOLY MOUNT," "FUNERAL SERVICES," ETC. 



IS 



\ i ] ':>'\\ i A''' 



NEW YORK 

WILBUR B. KETCHAM PUBLISHING COMPANY 






TTIfTTfffAifYOF 

CONGRESS, 
Two CfOPiES RsoeivCT 

AUG. 9 1902 

Co'M'WMT firnrv 

CUvcv. "^ - f cf 01- 
DLASffCU XXc Mo. 



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FY 8. 



COPTRIGHT, 1902, 



JOSEPH SANDERSON 



DEDICATED 

-TO 

MY BELOVED CHILDREN 

WHOSE 

FILIAL AFFECTION 

IS AN UNCEASING JOY. 



There is no heroic poem in the world but is at bottom a biography, 
the li£e of a man ; and there is no hf e of a man faitJif ully recorded but is 
a heroic poem of its sort, rhymed or unrhymed. — Carlyle, 



PEEFACE. 



When Erin first rose from the dark, swelling flood, 
God blessed the green island, and saw it .was good ; 
The emerald of Europe, it sparkled and shone. 
In the ring of the world, the most precious stone. 

Dkennan. 

The author of " The Story of St. Patrick " has aimed to 
produce a popular life of this notable missionary, based 
upon facts and upon his characteristics and teachings, as 
revealed in his genuine writings. The story is preceded 
by a brief sketch of Ireland in its early settlements, its 
social condition, its legal enactments, its religious beliefs, 
and its ancient language; and is followed by a careful 
description of the church-work Patrick performed in 
Ireland. 

The book closes with an account of a few of the miracles 
attributed to St. Patrick, a few of the legends with which 
some writers have associated his name, and with the " say- 
ings, proverbs, and visions," whose genuineness has not 
been admitted by the most judicious critics. The volume 
contains an account of every known and important trans- 
action of his life, as the latest research and best scholar- 
ship have brought to light the different phases of his 



8 PREFACE. 

much discussed and disputed career. Facts are the same 
everywhere ; but for the setting forth of the facts as they 
are presented in this " Story," and for many of the lessons 
deduced therefrom, the author claims that these " apples 
of gold " are in his own " pictures of silver." He will wel- 
come criticism, whether adverse or favorable, for he would 
greatly prefer to know wherein he may be in error ; and 
where the views presented are just they may become more 
useful in being ventilated by discussion. 

Dear Shamrock of Erin ! so sacred and green, 
Though ages of sorrow thy past years have seen ; 
From childhood's bright morning to manhood's decline 
Thy leaflets we wear o'er our hearts ever thine. 

In sadness we loved thee, and earnest our prayer, 
Long years of rich blessing may yet be thy share, 
When strife o'er thy verdant soil ever shall cease. 
Thy three leaves the symbol of Love — Union — Peace. 

T. E. E. 



COS-TENTS. 



PAGE 

CHAPTER I. 
The Early Settlers of Ireland 13 



CHAPTER II. 
The Primitive Social Condition of Ireland 29 

CHAPTER III. 
The Ancient Laws of Ireland 36 

CHAPTER IV. 
The Druidical Religion of Ireland 42 

CHAPTER V. 
The Original Language of the Celtic Irish 52 

CHAPTER VI. 
The Progress of Christianity before the time of Patrick . . 65 

CHAPTER VII. 
Patrick's Birthplace and Birth 74 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Patrick's Parentage 81 

9 



10 CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

CHAPTER IX. 
Official Positions of Patrick's Grandfather and Father . . 85 

CHAPTER X. 
Patrick's Baptism and Early Life 89 

CHAPTER XI. 
The Captivity of St. Patrick 93 

CHAPTER XII. 
Patrick's Conversion in Bondage 98 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Patrick's Escape from Slavery 102 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Patrick at Home Again 105 

CHAPTER XV. 
Patrick's Call to Mission Work 112 

CHAPTER XVI. 
An Estimate of Patrick before entering upon his Mission . 117 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Patrick Starting on his Mission in Ireland 121 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Patrick's Visit to Tara 128 



CONTENTS. 11 

PAGE 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Description of Tara and Taea Hall 132 

CHAPTER XX. 
Patrick's Mission Work in the West and South 135 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Patrick's Visit to Connaught, etc ; 139 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Patrick's Visit to the Northwest 144 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
Patrick's Closing Missionary Tours 148 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
Patrick's Death and Burial. 155 

CHAPTER XXV. 
A Memorial Tribute to Patrick 159. 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

Patrick's Chief Characteristics 162 

CHAPTER XXVII. 
Patrick's Scriptural Knowledge 181 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 
Patrick's Doctrines 186 



12 CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

The Rise of Monasttcism '. 196 



CHAPTER XXX. 
The Church of St. Patrick 206 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

Conclusion of ''The Story of St. Patrick" 228 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

The " Confession " of St. Patrick 239 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 
The Hymn of St. Patrick 262 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 
Patrick's Epistle to Coroticus 267 

CHAPTER XXXV. 
Index of Biblical Texts Quoted by St. Patrick 276 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

The Doubtful Remains of Patrick 278 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 
Miracles and Legends 284 



THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE EARLY SETTLERS OF IRELAND. 

Long, long ago, beyond the misty space 

Of twice a thousand years. 
In Erin old there dwelt a mighty race. 

Taller than Roman spears ; 
Like oaks and towers they had a giant grace. 

Were fleet as deers, 
With wind and waves they made their 'biding-place, 

These western shepherd seers. 

T. D. McOee. 

There are few more important and interesting person- 
ages in all history, and around whom so much mystery 
hangs, than that of Patrick, usually designated the Apostle 
of Ireland. 

Nor can the condition of the Irish country and people 
before Patrick landed upon its shores be seen in a more 
satisfactory historic light. Therefore, before we enter 
upon the story of Patrick, let us briefly scan the condi- 
tion of Ireland in those early days. 

There is a mistiness enwrapping the annals of that 
^' Green Isle of the Ocean," which obscures in a great 

13 



14 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

measure the facts both before and after the commence- 
ment of the Christian era. 

The prehistoric legends of Ireland are, however, of con- 
siderable importance in obtaining a pretty accurate view 
of its earliest settlements. The long continuance of tribal 
government, and the existence of a special class whose 
duty it was to preserve the genealogies of the ruling fami- 
lies, and to keep in memory the deeds of their ancestors, 
were favorable to the growth and preservation of these 
legends. Long pedigrees and stories of forays and battles 
were preserved, but were altered more or less in being 
transmitted from father to son. 

But as there had been no great conquest for centuries 
by foreign races to destroy these traditions they were not 
eradicated by internal contests and displacements of tribes. 

When these Irish prehistoric legends are therefore di- 
vested of their extraneous additions, they express the 
broad facts of the peopling of Ireland, and are in a mea- 
sure in accordance with the results of archaeological inves- 
tigation. 

Keeping these things in view, these prehistoric legends 
inform us that several principal peoples were the earliest 
settlers of Ireland. 

We must, however, remember that no two histories 
of Ireland seem to agree as to the strifes, changes, and 
rules which characterized that unhappy country during 
its earliest centuries. It is simply impossible to recon- 
cile the historical accounts handed down by the sages or 
scribes of those primitive times, when Ireland was a battle- 
ground for fierce wars of petty kings and chieftains. 



THE EARLY SETTLERS OF IRELAND. 15 

There is an early tradition that Gomer, the eldest son of 
Japheth, one of the sons of Noah, was the progenitor of 
the early branches of the Celtic family, and of the modern 
people who are known as Gaels, or Scotch Highlanders, 
of Celtic origin. 

A curious compilation called " The Book of Invasions " 
tells us that the first people who arrived in Ireland were 
under the leadership of Parthelan, and came from Scythia, 
or middle Greece, in the fifteenth century before Christ, 
and settled at Kenmare, on the southwest coast of Ireland. 
Parthelan divided the coast into four parts, giving to each 
of his four sons a part, and having occupied Ireland for 
three hundred years, they all died of a plague. 

From the earliest period Ireland was well wooded and 
the interior full of marshes. It was occupied by a sparse 
population of forest tribes, who were doubtless of the ab- 
original race of western and southern Europe. There is 
no date given for the arrival of this race, and it is said 
that these people were in Ireland when Ireland itself was 
discovered, as people were in San Salvador when it was 
discovered by Columbus. 

The incoming of the first Celts with Parthelan, who 
were akin to the later people called Scots, who settled on 
the sea-coast and built fortresses on the principal high- 
lands, was a marked era in the earliest history of Ireland, 
for these people, with the " forest tribes," formed the ear- 
liest basis of the population. 

Different parts of Ireland seem to have been settled at 
different times by people varied in origin and traits of 
character. The north people were probably a branch of 



16 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

the Celts ; the eastern and central people were an offshoot 
of the British and Belgic tribes ; and the people of Mun- 
ster were of a southern or Gallic type. The Britons came 
from that part of France which lies between the river 
Seine and the EngHsh Channel, and which includes Nor- 
mandy as well as Brittany. Three other tribes, called the 
invading tribes, came from between the river Humber and 
the shore of the North Sea. While the people who in- 
habited the British Isles were of the same stock as those 
of Gaul, yet they flowed into these isles in two streams, 
one from the neighboring Gaul, and one from some coun- 
try east of Gaul, by way of the North Sea. 

Another instalment of Celts, consequent upon their 
displacement from other countries by conquests of the 
Romans, soon after arrived. These commenced a war 
upon the various tribes they found in Ireland, and having 
conquered many of them, reduced them to servitude. 

The foremost of the conquering tribes was called Scot- 
raige, and having acquired the leadership of the free clans, 
were then called Scoti. These Scots gave the name of 
Scotia to Ireland, a name which it retained till the eleventh 
century, when the old name Hibernia, given to it by the 
Latin wi-iters, was revived — a name which, on the author- 
ity of a learned scholar, is the Latin form of the word 
Erin. 

As these Celts formed the basis of the population in 
Gaul, Thrace, Asia Minor, and Caledonia, as well as in 
Ireland, it will be interesting to look at their origin, trace 
them through the nations, and study their characteristics 
as given by credible historians. 



THE EABLT SETTLERS OF IRELAND. 17 

The Aryans were a primitive people who lived in pre- 
historic times in Central Asia, east of the Caspian Sea and 
north of the Hindu Mountains ; and from them sprang the 
Celtic, Teutonic, Slavonic, and other races. It was a divi- 
sion of mankind otherwise called Indo-European or Indo- 
Germanic. These people, moved either by the pressure of 
their increasing numbers or by the restlessness of their 
disposition, migrated in great hordes eastward. A side 
wave of this great flood of people poured over the Apen- 
nines, submerged Rome, and spread out in weaker waves 
over southern Italy. Many years afterward they swarmed 
into Thrace, and a part of them pushed into Asia Minor. 

We have no credible account of the separation of the 
Celts from the other Aryans or Indo-Germans. Invading 
eastern Europe, they were driven westward and settled in 
France and Spain, spreading themselves into north Italy, 
Belgium, and the British Isles. This migration was doubt- 
less made long before the dawn of British history. More 
than six hundred years before the Christian era the coun- 
try of the Gauls was visited by the Phenicians and the 
Greeks. They found the people a race of warlike savages, 
who dressed in the skins of beasts, dyed or tattooed their 
limbs and bodies, made drinking-cups of the skulls of their 
enemies killed in battles, and strangled the unfortunate 
strangers wrecked upon their coasts. Their only religion 
was the worship of trees, fountains, thunder, and all things 
wild or strange in nature. 

The Phenicians and subsequently the Greeks carried on 
some trade with this wild people with the result of intro- 
ducing a few civilized arts among them. 



18 THE STOBY OF ST. PATRICK. 

The present town of Marseilles was founded 600 B.C. by- 
Grecian traders. Six years later these barbarians, under 
their general, Belmns, captured and plundered Rome, but 
were driven out by the Roman leader Cornilleus. During 
the two hundred years following there were frequent 
wars between the Gauls and Romans. Those who settled 
in northern Italy, the cisalpine Gauls, were submerged 
by Rome about 220 B.C. Caesar subdued Gaul proper in 
eight campaigns between the years of 58 and 50 B.C. The 
loss of the Gauls in the last struggle was probably nearly 
a million of men. 

At the time of this conquest the Gauls had a number of 
fortified towns, they had invented various implements for 
use in husbandry, and excelled in the arts of working in 
metals, in embroidery, and the manufacture of various 
kinds of cloth. But they were rude in manner and rough 
in speech. They practised polygamy and worshiped many 
gods, to whom they offered in sacrifice the captives taken 
in war. They are described by Roman writers as a large, 
fair-skinned, and yellow-haired race, social, turbulent, en- 
thusiastic, imaginative, and vain. Because of their noisy 
and fluent speech, Cicero compared them to town-criers, 
and Cato remarks admiringly of their tact in turning an 
argument against their opponents. 

They wore their hair long and flowing, and delighted in 
showy garments. Their chiefs wore much jewelry, large 
head-pieces of fur and feathers, with gold and silver waist- 
belts, from which hung enormous sabers. They went into 
battle with all this finery on, but threw it off in the heat 
of the conflict. They fought fiercely, armed with barbed, 
iron-headed spears, heavy broadswords, and lances. 



TSE EAELY SETTLEBS OF IRELAND. 19 

After their subjugation by Caesar the Gauls remained 
entirely quiet for more than two centuries, and the civili- 
zation of the country proceeded rapidly under the influ- 
ence of Roman rule. Many towns were built, new arts 
introduced, and commerce was stimulated. The national 
habits and religion retired by degrees to the northwest, 
and at last found their only refuge in the islands beyond it. 

Christianity was first introduced into Gaul about 160 a.d., 
by teachers sent out by the Apostles and their succes- 
sors. During the fourth and fifth centuries the country 
was taken from the Romans by the Franks, a German 
tribe which gave its name to the country. 

The French people to-day are of mixed ancestry, deriv- 
ing their characteristics from the Celts, Romans, and 
Franks. 

The Irish are the only people from Gallic or Celtic an- 
cestry who have been mixed so slightly with other nation- 
alities as to show, even to the present time, the survival \J 
of the physical and mental traits of the Gallic Celts. _/ 

Historians seem unanimous in tracing the inhabitants 
of Thrace, in the centuries immediately preceding the 
Christian era, to the influx of the Celts from southern and 
eastern Europe. Of the inhabitants of Thrace in those 
days, we are informed by eminent historians of their 
habits and practices. Polygamy was general, and when 
the husband died his favorite wife was slain over his 
grave. Before marriage the Thracian women enjoyed the 
utmost liberty, but after marriage they were guarded with 
Turkish rigor. 

Wars and robbery were the only honorable occupations 
of the men. They lived to steal either from one another 



20 THE STOBY OF ST. PATRICK. 

or from the neighboring people. "When not fighting or 
plundering, they spent their days in savage idleness, or 
quarreling over their cups. They were courageous, or 
rather ferocious, after the fashion of barbarous people, yet 
they lacked the steady valor and endurance of disciplined 
troops. At all times their warfare displayed more fierce- 
ness and impetuosity than fortitude. Their treachery was 
probably no greater than that of other barbarians. 

"When the Romans under Caesar invaded Britain fifty 
years before Christ they found the islands occupied by a 
tribe of the Cymric Celts, a people descended from the 
Belgic Grauls, who had crossed over to the island from the 
mainland opposite. 

These people were called Britons, A tribe of similar 
origin, the Caledonians, inhabited the northern half of the 
island, and still another tribe occupied the adjoining island 
of Ireland, then called Scotia, whence its inhabitants were 
known by the name of Scots ; but they called their island 
Eri, whence it is supposed that they were originally de- 
scended from wanderers from the land of the Spanish 
or Iberian G-auls. 

The Eomans governed Britain for three centuries in 
Justice and tranquillity, but the Caledonians made them- 
selves very troublesome by plundering incursions, and the 
Eomans made a stone wall across the narrowest part to 
keep the northern barbarians off. 

These Caledonians were called Picts by the Eomans, 
because they painted their bodies. Early in the third 
century the Saxons from north Grermany made incursions 
into Britain, and these, with the Picts on the north and 



THE EABLY SETTLERS OF IRELAND. 21 

the Scots on the west, harassed the Britons, who were 
protected, as far as possible, by the Eomans, until the fall 
of their empire in the fifth century. 

The Celts in their dispersions through different coun- 
tries made themselves a " terror " wherever they went, and 
were so troublesome to the Romans in Asia Minor, where 
they had been driven because of their marauding and 
plundering, that they were hemmed in by the emperor 
to the province of Galatia, so called because these people 
were Gauls. 

Here the Apostle Paul visited them, preached to them 
the gospel, and founded several churches, the first Celtic 
churches of which we read in history. 

In writing an " Epistle " to them afterward he deplores 
their " fickleness," in backsliding so quickly after conver- 
sion, and with such little persuasion from the tempter. 

Paul had reached Galatia a broken-down traveler. He 
had halted on his journey because his strength had given 
out, and he must stay until regained. This in his letter 
to them he freely confessed. " Because of the weakness 
of the flesh I preached to you at first," is his language. 
He was physically unable to proceed, and, moreover, he 
was afflicted with some malady the nature of which tended 
to excite contempt and even repulsion in beholders. Yet 
in spite of all this the warm-hearted Galatians or Celts 
received him with enthusiasm. Paul testifies that had he 
been " an angel of God," or " Jesus Christ " himself, they 
could not have shown him greater hospitality. 

They thought themselves happy, indeed, that he had be- 
come their guest ; there was nothing they would not have 



22 THE STOBY OF ST. PATBICK. 

done for him, even "to the digging out of their eyes to 
give him," as they said, with a touch of genuine Celtic 
exaggeration, and yet with a true streak of kindness and 
hospitaUty, for which Celts are still distinguished. 

These G-alatians, be it remembered, were of Celtic de- 
scent. Gralatian is synonymous with Gallic. They were 
the relics, as we have seen, of a Grallish or Celtic invasion 
that swept over southern Europe in the early part of the 
third century before Christ and poured into Asia Minor. 
Here the Celtic tribes maintained themselves in indepen- 
dence, under their native princes, until, a hundred years 
later, they were subdued by the Eomans, and their coun- 
try formed a province of the empire. 

While they had retained much of the ancient language 
and manners, they had also readily acquired G-reek culture, 
and were superior to their neighbors in intelligence. 

None of the New Testament churches possessed a more 
strongly marked character than did those in Gralatia. They 
exhibited the well-known traits of the Celtic nature. They 
were generous, impulsive, vehement in feeling and lan- 
guage, but vain, fickle, and quarrelsome. 

Eight out of the fifteen works of the flesh enumerated 
in the twentieth and twenty-first verses of the fifth chapter 
of Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, works in which the G-ala- 
tians indulged, were sins of strife. They could hardly be 
restrained from biting and devouring one another (chapter 
V. 1-5). They were prone to " revelings and drunkenness." 

They had probably, too, a nature bent toward a scenic 
and ritualistic type of religion, which made the spirituality 
of the gospel pall upon their taste, and gave to the teach- 



THE EAELY SETTLERS OF IRELAND. 23 

ing of the Judaizers who had come among them its fatal 
bewitchment. " The beggarly elements of the world " still 
bewitch. 

The Eomans, di-eading the influence of these Celts, 
pushed them westward, and the Teutons, following up 
this pressure upon the Celts, drove them into G-aul and 
also into what is now known as the Three Kingdoms — 
England, Scotland, and Ireland. In these kingdoms they 
found a refuge, especially in Devon, Cornwall, Wales, the 
country from Mersey to the Clyde, and in Irene, or Ire- 
land. 

It must be remembered that while the Roman Empire 
was almost coextensive with the entire world, its legions, 
for whatever cause, never set foot on Ireland, nor could 
they ever penetrate into the great natural fortresses of 
northern Caledonia. 

Other peoples struggled for the mastery of Ireland, as 
the Nemedians, the Ferbolgs, the Danaans, and the Melis- 
ians, but the Celts, under a leader called Scotraige, finally 
gained the mastery and were afterward called, as we have 
already stated, Scots. 

The leader of these Scots was Tuathal, who founded a 
feudal system in Ireland, which existed when Patrick ap- 
peared upon the scene, and which ruled Ireland while the 
Scotia power endured. 

Hitherto the island had been divided into four prov- 
inces, each province ruled by its own king, but Tuathal 
took a portion from each of the other provinces and of 
these formed the province or kingdom of Meath, which by 
its rental supported the chief king, who had his capital at 



24 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

Tara. Tuathal made Hmself chief king, and to him all 
the other kings were subject. 

He built in Munster the sacred place of the Druids, 
now called the Hill of Ward, near Athboy. He established 
also a similar religious center for each of the other prov- 
inces. The sacred place of Munster was then called Ti- 
achtga; that of Connaught was called Usnech; that of 
Ulster was Tailti, now Telltown ; and Temair, or Tara, was 
in Leinster. 

Each of these sacred places had its great religious druid- 
ical festival. 

The great festival at Tiachtga was called Samium, now 
Allhallow-tide. On this occasion all the hearths in Mun- 
ster must be rekindled from the sacred fire, for which a 
tax was due to the king. 

The great festival of Beltaine was celebrated at Usnech, 
now the hill of Usnagh, in Westmeath. This was observed 
in the month of May. The horse and garments of every* 
chief who came to the festival formed a part of the toll of 
the king of Connaught. 

At Tailti (Telltown) a great fair was held at certain inter- 
vals on the 1st of August, at which were celebrated games 
supposed to have been established by Lugaid of the Long 
Arm, one of the gods of Dia and Ana, in honor of his 
foster-mother, Tailti. "^ 

It was here that Tuathal erected a royal sacred fort, 
called a dun, in which was placed the shrine of the Ulaid, 
and to the kings of which the rents of the fair belonged. 
These rents consisted chiefly in a fine due for each mar- 
riage celebrated there. 



THE EABLT SETTLERS OF IRELAND. 25 

At Tara, the principal royal residence, lie established the 
feast of Tara, which was a general assembly of the provin- 
cial kings and other sub-governors of Ireland who came 
to do homage to the Ardri, or over-king. 

The feast continued to be held from TuathaPs time to 
554 A.D., when the last was held by Dairmait, son of Cer- 
ball. The establishment of the feast is also attributed to 
the prehistoric king Eochaid OUam Fotla, which implies 
that Tuathal merely reestablished it. 

As a reparation for the loss of his two daughters at the 
hands of the treacherous and wanton king Boroimhi, Tua- 
thal imposed a heavy tribute upon the province of Lein- 
ster, which was to be paid every season forever after. This 
tribute, which afterward caused so many wars, consisted 
of 6000 cows, 6000 hogs, 6000 wethers, 6000 copper cal- 
drons, 6000 ounces of silver, and 6000 mantles. 

After introducing several social reforms, one of which 
was the choosing of supervisors of the most expert work- 
men in the kingdom, Tuathal met his death at the hands 
of Mai, 109 A.D., who seized the throne. 

In the year 125 a.d., Cond, the hero of the hundred bat- 
tles, became king, and entered upon a career of warfare 
which continued with varying fortune until he was slain 
by Tiofraid Tirech, king of Ulster. About this time Mug 
Nuadat founded a dynasty that ruled Munster for many 
years. 

The career of Cormac the son of Art, who lived in the 
first half of the third century, was remarkable for its 
treacherous cruelty, and afterward for its justice and wis- 
dom. Having in his youth been banished from Ulster, he 



26 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

aroused the sympathy of Thedy, a noble of considerable 
influence, and of Lughaigh, an invincible hero, who es- 
poused his cause and marched against the king of Ulster. 

After a hard-fought battle and a great display of hero- 
ism on the part of Lughaigh, the king of Ulster was slain 
and his army overwhelmed. Thedy in the contest received 
three wounds, which the ungrateful Cormac caused to be 
filled — one with an ear of barley, another with a black 
worm, and the third with a point of a rusty spear, hoping 
in this way to torture him to death ; but the wounds healed 
after a year of great suffering. In the meantime Cormac 
became established on the throne of his father, and after- 
ward ruled Ireland with great wisdom. He was converted 
to Christianity, but died seven years afterward, being 
choked with a salmon bone. 

During the latter part of the same century. Mall, a pow- 
erful and ambitious monarch of Ireland, invaded France 
and plundered the country. 

In this discursive sketch of the first settlers of Ireland 
we have seen that the Celts, wherever they have been, 
have demonstrated that they are a very important branch 
of the Indo-G-erman family. 

If we look at them in G-aul, we see there that their in- 
cessant warfares bespeak at least activity of mind and 
body. If we look at them in Ireland, we see that the Irish 
missions have done a great deal for European civilization. 
If we look at them in Britain, we see that their traditions 
have deeply influenced medieval literature. 

One great defect of the Celts is incapacity for political 



THE EARLY SETTLERS OF IRELAND. 27 

organization. Their very enthusiasm, lively feeling, and 
vivid imagination have prevented them from taking coolly 
and deliberately those measures which lead to national 
unity; hence it is that they have given way before the 
more practical Eoman and Teuton. The Teuton has quiet 
resolution, sturdy common sense, a talent for public life, 
state organization, and political dominion. The Celt has 
genuine refinement of manner and feeling and high poetic 
susceptibilities. 

We have also seen what a mixed race the inhabitants of 
Great Britain and Ireland are. At the invasion of Britain 
by the Eomans the inhabitants included Phenician, Ro- 
man, and German elements, which had become incorpo- 
rated with the native Britons, who were of Celtic descent, 
and to these have since been added the Anglo-Saxons. 

The inhabitants of Ireland are no less composite and 
complex, since they have sprung, as we have seen, from 
peoples in the northern parts of Europe, Asia Minor, and 
Central Asia, with a large infusion of immigrations from 
Gaul and from ancient Germany and Scandinavia. Though 
the inhabitants of Ireland may have retained some of the 
bad qualities of the peoples from whom they have sprung, 
they are nevertheless distinguished for many of their best 
traits, and in several of these are not a whit behind some 
of the best peoples on the earth. 



28 THE STOBY OF ST. PATRICK 



Salutation to the Celts, 

Hail to our Celtic brethren, wherever they may be, 
In the far woods of Oregon, or o'er the Atlantic sea — 
Whether they guard the banner of St. George in Indian 

vales. 
Or spread beneath the nightless North experimental sails — 

One in name and in fame 

Are the sea-divided Glaels. 

A greeting and a promise unto them all we send ; 
Their charter our charter is, their glory is our end ; 
Their friend shall be our friend, our foe whoe'er assails 
The past or future honors of the far-dispersed Gaels. 

One in name and in fame 

Are the sea-divided Gaels. 

T. D. McGee. 



CHAPTER 11. 

THE PKIMITIVE SOCIAI. CONDITION OF IRELAND. 

Oh, to have lived like an Irish chief when hearts were fresh 

and true, 
And a manly thought, like a pealing bell, would quicken 

them through and through. 
And the seed of a gen^rt)us hope right soon to a fiery 

action grew. 
And men would have scorned to talk and talk, and never 

a deed would do. 

C. a. Duffy. 

The constitution of the Irish social system was tribal. 
It divided the population into numerous tribes, which were 
again subdivided into smaller clans, composed of families 
and individuals descended from a common ancestor, from 
whom tribes and clans took their name. This division of 
the people into tribes or clans was a fundamental feature 
of primitive Irish society, and must be always kept in 
view by any one who would understand the constitution 
of the church founded by Patrick and his successors. 

Each tribe had its chief, and the chiefs of the tribes 
were subject to the king of the province, and these pro- 
vincial kings were subject to the chief king. The chief- 
tainship and the kingship were all elective, although the 
choice was limited to the relatives of the ruling chief. The 

29 



30 THE STOBT OF ST. PATRICK. 

successor of a chief was chosen irt the lifetime of the latter. 
Though the choice was confined to relations, the eldest 
son was not necessarily elected, but generally the ablest 
man in the chiefs connections, and the person on whom 
the choice fell was called the Tanish. 

There were five kings in Ireland in those early times, 
the realms of four of them nearly corresponding to the 
present four provinces, except that by taking a portion 
from each of the four, in the year 130 a.d., Meath was 
formed into a separate central kingdom, its ruler being 
recognized as over-king, and having his residence at Tara 
in Meath, till the middle of the sixth century. 

When a strong man held the place of supreme ruler his 
controlling power was everywhere felt. But it often 
happened that the provincial king or chief was abler and 
more powerful than the over-king, in which case the cen- 
tral control was little more than nominal. 

A true Irish king of those days is beautifully described 
by Thomas Davis in the f oUowing lines : 

The Csesar of Eome has a wider domain. 

And the great king of France has more clans in his train ; 

The scepter of Spain is more heavy with gems, 

And our crowns cannot vie with the Greeks' diadems ; 

But kinglier far, before heaven and man. 

Are the Emerald fields and the fiery- eyed clan. 

The scepter, and state, and the poets who sing. 

And the swords that encircle a true Irish king. 

For he must have come from a conquering race — 
The heir of their valor, their glory, their grace ; 
His fame must be stately, his step must be fleet ; 
His hand must be trained to each warrior feat ; 



THE PRIMITIVE SOCIAL CONDITION OF IRELAND. ^\ 

His face as the harvest moon, steadfast and clear, 

A head to enlighten, a spirit to cheer ; 

While the foremost to rush where the battlebrands ring, 

And the last to retreat is a true Irish king. 

But there were other grades in society than these. The 
people were not only divided into ranks and grades, as we 
have described, but these grades were also designated, by 
the number of colors they were permitted to wear. The 
lowest were only permitted to wear one color, and none 
but the royal family could wear seven. The rank next to 
royalty was composed of the learned order: these wore 
six colors. This is an indication of the high estimation 
in which learning was then held. This custom of wearing 
colors is the origin of the Scotch plaid, worn by the High- 
landers till this day. 

The dwellings of the primitive Irish deserve also a 
word. These houses were, in many places, such as might 
be expected of a race that feared attacks from neighbor- 
ing people. Many of them were circular inclosures called 
by various names, but were in reality forts, inside of which 
were the chief habitations of the people. They were erected 
for shelter and protection, and in the case of the better 
class of these forts, in which the chiefs resided, they were 
surrounded by two ramparts. The houses inside of these 
were usually constructed of wood and wattles. 

The early Christian churches were similarly constructed, 
and generally plastered over with clay. There were also 
numerous circular stone forts. 

A large portion of the country was then covered with 
dense forests, in which the oak predominated. In these 



32 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

forests, boars, wolves, and other wild beasts roamed. So 
extensive were these forests that Ireland was at one time 
called " Island of the Woods." 

Hunting was common, but agriculture was also prac- 
tised. The wealth of the people consisted chiefly of cattle, 
pigs, sheep, and horses. 

The members of one tribe formed a number of com- 
munities; each community had a head, who had under 
him kinsmen, slaves, and retainers. Each of these com- 
munities occupied a certain part of the tribe land. The 
arable part was cultivated under a system of tillage ; the 
pasture-land was grazed by all, according to certain cus- 
toms ; and the wood, bog, and mountain formed the unre- 
stricted common land of the community. 

And what this village community was to the tribe the 
homestead was to the community. In that homestead 
dwelt the representative freeman, capable of acting as a 
witness, or going bail for his neighbors. 

So long as there was abundance of land each family 
^grazed its cattle upon the tribe land without restriction. 
Unequal increase of wealth and growth of population 
naturally led to its limitation, each head of a household 
being entitled to graze an amount of stock in proportion 
to his wealth, the size of his household, and his acquired 
position. 

The arable land was annually applotted, but generally 
some of the richer families succeeded in evading the ex- 
change of the allotments, and of converting part of the 
common land into an estate. This course of conduct soon 
created an aristocracy. 



THE FlilMITIVE SOCIAL CONDITION OF lEELAND. 33 

The head of the homestead who had held the same land 
for thi-ee generations was called a lord, of which rank 
there were several grades, according to their wealth in 
land and chattels. Several grades in society were simi- 
larly formed, and gradually sprang into existence. 

It should also be remembered that the man selected to 
be the head of the tribe, or the chief of the clan, must 
have certain specified qualifications, viz., he must be the 
most experienced, the most noble, the most wealthy, the 
wisest, the most learned, the most popular, the most pow- 
erful to oppose, and the most steadfast to sue for profits 
and to be sued for losses. In addition to these qualities, 
he should be free from personal blemishes and deformities, 
and of fit age to lead his tribe or clan, as the case might 
be, to battle. 

In order to support the dignity of the chief or chieftain 
a certain jportion of tribe or clan land was attached as a 
perquisite (an apanage) to the office. This land, with the 
fortified residence upon it, went to the successor of the 
chief, but a chiefs own property might be divided at his 
death, as an inheritance, among the members of his 
family. There was also another order, called entertainers. 
These were obliged by law to provide for strangers and 
travelers. They were dignitaries among their fellow-men, 
and were requked to be the proprietors of seven town 
lands, to have seven herds of cows, each herd to contain 
one hundred and fifty. Their mansion was required to be 
accessible by four different avenues; and a hog, sheep, 
and beef were required to be in constant preparation, that 
whoever called should be fed without delay. 



34 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

All this was gratuitous. Probably it was this social 
custom and provision which gave the Irishman an idea 
of his elysium in the next world, where, according to the 
description of it in the olden times, the pig is as conspic- 
uous as he is to-day in the cabin of the Irish peasant. 
Here is the description of an Irishman's elysium in those 
days : 

"There are three trees always bearing fruit; there is 
one pig there, always alive, and another pig ready cooked ; 
and there is a vessel full of excellent ale." 

The laws by which the people were governed, as we 
shall see, were singularly just and sympathetic, protecting 
the weak against the strong and the rich, and opening a 
door to wealth and high rank for ability and industry. 

It is recorded in an old manuscript that speaks of the 
age of Cormac, one of Ireland's earliest, wisest, and strong- 
est rulers, who lived in the middle of the third century, 
" that the world was full of all goodness in his time ; there 
were fruit and fatness of the land, an abundant produce 
of the sea, with peace, ease, and happiness. There was no 
killing nor plundering in his time, but every one occupied 
his land in happiness." 

This description of those times may be rather rosily 
drawn, but Cormac had doubtless come under the influ- 
ence of Christianity, and sought to follow the Grolden 
Eule. Be that as it may, the social primitive condition of 
Ireland, we can well imagine, was somewhat similar to the 
condition portrayed by the poet in his beautiful words, on 



THE PRIMITIVE SOCIAL CONDITION OF IRELAND. 35 



The Brave Old World. 

There was once a world, and a brave old world, 

Away in the ancient time, 
When the men were brave and the women fair, 

And the world was in its prime ; 
And the priest he had his book, 

And the scholar had his gown, 
And the old knight stout, he walked about, 

With his broadsword hanging down. 

Ye may see this world was a brave old world, 

In the days long past and gone. 
And the sun he shone, and the rain it rained, 

And the world went merrily on ; 
The shepherd kept his sheep. 

And the milkmaid milked her kine. 
And the serving-man was a sturdy loon 

In a cap and doublet fine. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE ANCIENT LAWS OF IKELAND. 

When on Sinai's top I see 
God descend in majesty, 
To proclaim his holy law, 
All my spirit sinks with awe. 

"When on Calvary I rest, 
God, in flesh made manifest. 
Shines in my Redeemer's face. 
Full of beauty, truth, and grace. 

MONTGOMEKY. 

The inhabitants of Ireland were governed, from a very 
early period, and for many centuries, by what were called 
the Brehon Laws. These laws obtained this name because 
they were made by the judges. 

These judges were hereditary, and each administered 
justice to the members of his tribe, while seated in the 
open air, on a few sods, on a hill or rising ground. The 
language in which these laws were written is a convincing 
proof of their antiquity, and also the subject-matter of 
many of them indicates the primitive nature of the society 
which then prevailed. Their style of composition differs 
from that of the vernacular Irish language of the present 
day; time has modified much of the spelling and many 
of the grammatical forms, also several of the legal terms. 

36 



THE JJiCIENT LAWS OF IRELAND. 37 

Some phrases of constant occurrence in these Brehon 
Laws have become obsolete. 

Some of these statutory documents are ascribed to Cor- 
mac MacArt, a wise and celebrated monarch of Ireland, 
in the middle of the third century; and allusions are 
made in them to a general revision of them in the fifth 
century, at the suggestion of St. Patrick, who, in conjunc- 
tion with certain kings and learned men, expunged from 
them many enactments which savored of paganism ; yet 
many traces of heathenism were not removed, especially 
their provisions respecting marriage, and its relations and 
obligations — provisions that demonstrate that Christian- 
ity had not yet exercised its full influence upon those who 
were either the enactors or revisers of these laws. 

By these laws a community or village comprised sepa- 
rate families and individuals, numerous enough to occupy 
what might be called a barony, or enough land to supply 
all their necessities by pasture and cultivation ; and with- 
in this barony a court and a complete system of social 
organization were established. 

In each of these communities lands were set apart per- 
manently for the support of the chief ; and means were 
arranged by which portions of the common land could 
within certain limits be acquired by individual owners. 
The grades of life were numerous, and regulated by the 
amount of wealth possessed in cattle, and in a prescribed 
assortment of agricultural implements and household 
goods. 

The houses were constructed of timber and wattle- work, 
surrounded by open spaces, of prescribed extent for each 



38 THE STOBY OF ST. PATRICK. 

class. The shortest limit for this space was the distance 
to which the owner, seated at his door, could throw a 
stone of a given weight. 

There were slaves and serfs and farmers and landlords, 
the relationship between which we need not specify in 
detail, except that they resembled very much the relation- 
ship between such classes in modern times. 

The use of coined money was practically unknown, and 
the standard of value was the cow. 

The succession to the territorial headships was, as we 
have stated, elective within certain hereditary limits, and 
the succession to the tribal rights, and rights of ownership 
in land, was hereditary. 

The law of marriage, as we have already hinted, allowed 
many irregular relations, but protected the property both 
of the irregular and of the lawful wife. The lawful wife 
could only protect herself from an unlawful one by the 
withdrawal of her separate property, and by fines which 
must be paid to her on such an occasion. 

The looseness of the connubial tie, evidenced by these 
laws, was one of the evils calling for reform, alleged by 
the Irish prelates in their letter, praying Pope Alexan- 
der III. to ratify the grant of Ireland made by Hadrian IV. 
to King Henry II. of England in the twelfth century. 

The upper classes put out their children to be nursed 
and educated by the poorer members of the community, 
who received a fee for their fostering care, and had a claim 
in their old age upon the child fostered and educated. 

This fostering care commenced with infancy, and in the 
case of girls terminated at thirteen years of age, and of 



THE ANCIENT LAWS OF IRELAND. 39 

boys at seventeen years. Under this system of early 
training the Brehon Laws provided that girls of the less 
wealthy class must be taught to use the handmill and 
the sieve, to bake and to rear young cattle. Grirls of the 
higher class must be taught to sew, cut out garments, and 
embroider. 

The poorer boys must be taught kiln-drying and wood- 
cutting. The boys of the upper class were taught chess- 
playing, the use of the missile, horsemanship, and swim- 
ming. The clothing, besides the nursing-cloths supplied 
by the parents, was to be regulated according to their sta- 
tion, from sober-colored stuffs for the children of the less 
wealthy to scarlet cloth and silks for the children of those 
of the rank of the king. 

Provision was made for the necessary correction of the 
pupil, and fines were to be imposed for the excess of cor- 
rection, with many other reasonable and necessary laws. 

Contributions were levied for the repair of the roads 
and bridges, etc., and each community had a public mill, 
a fishery, and a ferry-boat. 

Markets were held, and great fairs, at distant places and 
long intervals of time. Either party might rescind a con- 
tract within twenty-four hours. 

There was a law for " tramps " and " waifs " and " serfs," 
for caring for wrecks at sea, and for sustaining ship- 
wrecked sailors. All fines were graduated in the interest 
of the poorer classes, and crime and breach of contract 
reduced the guilty ones from a higher to a lower grade of 
society. 

Privileges were given to those attending the fairs, and a 



40 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

violation of some of the necessary laws for securing peace 
and decorum at these fairs was in some instances punish- 
able with death, and in other cases was punished with a 
pecuniary fine. At these fairs new laws were proclaimed, 
and old laws were read over publicly to the people. Im- 
prisonment was unknown, but the culprit was fettered. 
There were laws for the regulation or settlement of cases 
out of court, and for bringing other cases to a higher juris- 
diction, for which professional advocates were appointed. 

These laws defined the respective rights both of the 
clergy and of the laity, and among the rights expressly 
guaranteed to the latter " was the recital of the Word of 
God to all who would listen to it and keep it." Thus this 
time-honored law, the right to God's most precious Word, 
was secured to the people of Ireland by this ancient Irish 
law. 

The boundaries of their land were preserved by laying 
a quantity of burned ashes on the ground, and big stones 
on these, and to these places they carried boys, showed 
them the ashes and stones, and whipped them soundly, 
that they might remember the place, and tell it to their 
children. 

The main features of these laws were similar to those 
of the common law of England. Take them all in all, 
these were not hard laws by which Ireland was governed 
at the time when Patrick appeared upon the scene. 

God's law is perfect, and converts 

The soul in sin that lies ; 
God's testimony is most sure, 

And makes the simple wise ; 



THE ANCIENT LAWS OF IRELAND. 41 

The statutes of tlie Lord are right, 

And do rejoice the heart ; 
The Lord's command is pure, and doth 

Light to the eyes impart ; 
Unspotted is the fear of Grod, 

And doth endure forever ; 
The judgments of the Lord are true. 

And righteous altogether ; 
They more than gold, yea, much fine gold. 

To be desired are ; 
Than honey from the honeycomb 

That droppeth, sweeter far. 

David, King of Israel. 



CHAPTER lY. 

THE DRUmiCAL RELIGION OF IRELAND. 

Oreat were their deeds, their passions, and their sports ; 

With clay and stone 
They piled on strath and shore those mystic forts, 

Nor yet o'erthrown ; 
On cairn-crowned hills they held their council comets ; 

While youths alone, 
With giant dogs, explored the elk resorts. 

And brought them down. 

The Druids' altar and the Druids' creed 

We scarce can trace. 
There is not left an undisputed deed 

Of all that race. 
Save their majestic song, which hath their speed, 

And strength and grace ; 
In that sole song they live and love and bleed — 

It bears them on thro' space. 

T. D. McaEE. 

There are no definite accounts of the religious rites 
practised by the pagan Irish, but there are several allu- 
sions which, though vague, plainly show that such rites 
existed, and that it was one of the functions of the Druids 
io perform them. 

These Druids were a class of priests corresponding to 
the Magi, or wise men, of the ancient Persians, and druid- 

42 



THE DBUIDICAL BELIGION OF IRELAND. 43 

sim was the name usually given to the religious system of 
the ancient G-auls and Britons. 

The word Druid is thought to be derived from the Greek 
word druSj an oak. 

Groves of oak were their chosen retreat, and whatever 
grew on that tree was thought to be a gift from heaven, 
especially the mistletoe, under which fair ones still enjoy 
a kiss at Christmas. Wherever the mistletoe was found 
growing on an oak in those ancient times, it was cut with 
a golden knife by a priest clad in a white robe, and two 
white bulls were sacrificed upon the spot. The Druids 
called it " all heal," and its virtues were considered to be 
very great. 

The mistletoe was only regarded with reverence when 
found growing on the sacred oak, the tree of one of the 
gods of the ancient Britons. These druidic rites were main- 
tained under the Romans, Jutes, Saxons, and Angles. 

But how and when the mistletoe became ingrafted on 
the greatest festival of the Christian world is not yet 
apparent, and is evidently lost in the darkness of the dim 
and misty past. The mistletoe also appears in the Scan- 
dinavian mythology, in which an arrow formed from the 
mistletoe is represented as a sure weapon of success in a 
contest with an adversary. 

The custom of kissing under a suspended bough of the 
mistletoe has come down from the druidic days, and is 
likely to survive to the end of time, as it has survived the 
faith of the ancient Britons. 

Possibly the popularity of the rite has had much to do 
with its survival. In some parts of England, if a man 



44 J^SE STOBY OF ST. PATRICK. 

neglects to provide the evergreens for the Christnicis deco- 
ration he loses the privilege of kissing any maid or dame 
he catches under the mistletoe bough. 

This pleasant holiday custom has found expression in 
the following lively lines : 

On Christmas eve the bells were rung ; 
On Christmas eve the mass was sung ; 
That only night in all the year 
Saw the stoled priest the chalice rear ; 
The damsel donned her kirtle sheen, 
The hall was dressed with holly green ; 
Forth to the wood the merrymen go, 
To gather in the mistletoe. 

The Druids made the cutting of the mistletoe an occa- 
sion of solemn religious ceremonies, terminating often in 
extreme barbarity. 

If the readers of these pages could have been in Ireland 
about the time of Patrick's arrival there, and could have 
stood upon a hill with a village in front of them, and a 
thick, wild forest near by, they might have seen, according 
to an ancient writer, strange-looking men creeping out of 
cabins, walking about solemnly, and whispering mysteri- 
ously. 

These men have long beards, and in their hands magi- 
cians' wands, their coats are of many colors, and they have 
a string of serpents' eggs about their necks. Others have 
a white scarf thrown over their shoulders, bracelets on 
their arms, and long white rods in their hands. The moon 
is just six days old. They gaze at the stars and decide it 
is the proper time for their sacred rites. They gather in 
solemn conclave, and their chief leads them as they march 



THE DBVIDICAL RELIGION OF IRELAND. 45 

into the dark, gloomy woods. They halt under an ancient 
oak, and engage in solemn mnmmery. One of the priests 
climbs the oak, and with the golden knife cuts away the 
wondrous mistletoe. He throws it carefully down upon a 
white cloth, and all around adore it. Every leaf is a trea- 
sure. Those around think it has power to charm away 
evil spirits, and to preserve its worshipers in health. 

Two white bullocks are on hand for a sacrifice ; a wreath 
of oak leaves is placed upon their horns, and solemn rites 
are begun ; a golden knife is plunged into the necks of the 
victims, and they fall quivering in death; fires are kin- 
dled, and skilful hands prepare a feast, around which all 
gather, and of which they partake in pagan joy. 

At other times these barbarous Druids enact a more 
horrid part still at the observance of these demoniac rites. 
A slave, or prisoner of war, or the child of some peasant, 
is led into the gloomy woods, and there offered as a sacri- 
fice upon the satanic altar, while the priests roar and howl 
and beat their drums, to drown the cries of the suffering 
martyr. 

The Druids of Gaul sometimes made huge baskets of 
osier in the shape of a man, and filled them with human 
beings, and set the vast living mass on fire. Probably the 
ancient Irish were not so barbarous. 

These horrid rites seem to have been derived by the 
Druids from the Phenicians, who worshiped Baal and 
Moloch, and often offered up their children to them in 
sacrifice. 

These Druids had their Baal, which means " sun," for 
they had their Beltine fires, or Baal-fire day, and in honor 



46 THE STOEY OF ST. PATRICK 

of the sun the fire was made. They held that to face the 
sun was to be right in the world ^ to face the sun at noon 
is to face the south, and south means right, while the 
north means wrong. One must look toward the sun at 
the beginning of his work if he would prosper in it. A 
boat going to sea must turn sunwise; people must turn 
toward the sun as soon as they are married, and they must 
be borne to the grave in the same fashion. Some people 
still are influenced, unconsciously it may be, by these old 
Draid rites, and so front churches toward the sunrising, 
and turn toward sunrise when they say their prayers. Grod 
forbade his ancient people to be imitators of such people. 
These Druids adored the sun, but some deny that they 
made idols. They believed their God was omnipresent, 
and worshiped him in roofless temples, or within large 
circles of stone. In Latin the poet has described these 
Druids in the following lines : 

Through untold ages past there stood 

A deep, wild, sacred, awful wood ; 

Its interwoven boughs had made 

A cheerless, chilly, silent shade ; 

There, underneath the gloomy trees, 

"Were oft performed the mysteries 

Of barbarous priests, who thought that Grod 

Loved to look down upon the sod 

"Where every leaf was deeply stained 

With blood from human victims drained. 

LuciEN. 

They believed that God's eye was always upon them, 
that the soul was immortal, and that there was a state of 
future rewards and punishments — another world, where 



THE DRUIDICAL RELIGION OF IRELAND. 47 

good souls preserved their identity and their habits, while 
the souls of the bad passed into the lower animals to be 
chastised. Letters were burned at funerals, that the dead 
might carry them in smoke to those who had before them 
crossed the borders of the spirit-land. Money was loaned 
to the departed, on condition that it should be repaid in 
the world to come ; but the priests always received this 
money, and never failed on such occasions to be the bank- 
ers, both of the dead and the living. 

The power of these Druid priests was very great. They 
directed in all sacred things, and offered all sacrifices. 
They were the teachers of the youth, and judges, both in 
public and private, of all disputes. Their chief priest was 
elected by the priests in conclave, and possessed power 
without check or control. They enforced their legal deci- 
sions by religious sanctions, and forbade the presence of 
any at the religious sacrifices who refused obedience to 
their decrees. The persons thus doomed were regarded 
as accursed, and shunned by all the people. 

These priests were exempt from war and from taxation, 
and were regarded with the deepest reverence. They did 
not commit their learning to writing, lest it should be read 
by the people ; but committed it to memory, and trans- 
mitted it orally from one to another. If at any time any 
of the priests wrote anything, it was in the Greek lan- 
guage, which the priests only understood. These Druid 
priests had also their fairies and their bushes, and their 
hills and groves, and places sacred to them. 

The king and great aristocratic families among these 
Druids had their bards, who became in time a privileged 



48 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

class, and exercised great influence. They were the chief 
historians, kept the family genealogies, cast into rude 
verse the deeds of their heroes, recited them on public 
occasions and at all great festivals, at which these bards 
were always present. On such times they excited the 
youth to the cultivation of oratory, swayed the multitudes 
by their fervid appeals, and filled all with the greatest 
enthusiasm. 

They would seize their harps, and play and sing their 
own national songs, in which the people joined, until the 
family, provincial, or national spirit was intensely excited, 
and all were ready to go forth to deeds of heroism or 
rapine. The names of some of these bards are retained 
and honored among the people of Ireland to the present 
day. 

The Druids invoked their divinities in favor of their 
friends, and for this purpose made incantations upon a 
mound or elevated ground near the field of battle. 

They determined by auguries from the heavenly bodies, 
clouds, wind, and smoke, the flight of birds, and other 
phenomena, the propitious and the unpropitious times 
for fighting a battle, or for any other important action. 
They announced the things it would be unlucky for a 
chief or a tribe to do, pretended to foretell future events, 
practised incantations of various kinds, kept events in 
remembrance, and were, in a word, the depositaries of such 
knowledge as was possessed in Ireland at the time. 

These Druids believed also in the unity of Grod, and as 
already stated, in the immortality of the soul, and in a 
future state of rewards and punishments. They studied 



THE DRVIDICAL RELIGION OF IRELAND. 49 

botany, astronomy, medicine, and attained to great skill in 
mechanics ; but notwithstanding their boasted civilization, 
their rites were barbarous in the extreme, even to the offer- 
ing up, as we have seen, of human beings as sacrijB.ces as 
an atonement to the Deity for the sins of men. They 
taught the people to worship supernatural beings, such as 
fairies, who were supposed to dwell in the earth, the sea, 
rivers, valleys, hills, fountains, wells, and trees. These 
supposed supernatural beings had to be conciliated by the 
incantations of the Druids, for which they received a fee. 

The superstition about the Banshee, a female fairy, so 
much talked about in Ireland, is a remnant of this druid- 
ism. The Banshee had a most mournful cry, almost like 
that of a baby in great distress, and when heard after dusk 
made many a young Irish heart tremble. The cry of that 
which the Irish imagined was the Banshee is heard still 
in this land after nightfall, at some distance from dwell- 
ings in the country, and in the rear yards of houses in the 
city. 

A Druid was the most jealous of beings, and woe to the 
individual who excited his jealousy. A single word from 
the Druid, and the man was cut down like grass. A Druid 
had always the king's ear, and at his whisper the order 
went forth to slay the hated man. On his lip was war or 
peace. In his hand was the golden knife for the throat 
of the condemned. At the sound of his rude lyre the 
people rose to the work of vengeance. 

The religion of the land, as can be easily seen, was a 
religion of wonder and fear, and to dispute with a Druid 
was a crime against the state. Woe to any one who kept 



50 THE STOBY OF ST. PATRICK, 

back tlie tax claimed by a Druid. The chief Druid of 
every district required all families, rich and poor, to pay 
him certain annual dues. 

On an evening in autumn the people were required to 
extinguish every fire in their houses. Then every man 
must appear and pay his tax ; if he failed he was the ob- 
ject of terrible vengeance. To be at that time with a fire 
in the house or without money in the hand was a crime. 

The next morning the Druid priest allowed every man 
to take some of his sacred fire and rekindle the flame on 
the man's own hearth. No man must lend a living coal to 
his neighbor; if he did he was reduced to poverty, and 
declared an outlaw. If he changed his religion it was at 
the peril of his life. If he saw the " fiery cross " borne on 
the hills he must rush to the rally ing-place of the clans. 
The chieftain tested the loyalty of his people in this way : 
he would slay a goat, dip in its blood the end of a wooden 
cross, set it on fire, give it to the clansman, and tell him 
to run and wave it on the hilltops. "When this first clans- 
man became breathless, another would take up the fiery 
cross, and repeat the signal from hilltop to hilltop. The 
man who did not obey the summons was doomed. 

The Druids were also a kind of sorcerers, said to be in 
league with the demons of paganism, and able, by this 
agency, to do good to their friends and mischief to their 
enemies. 

The followers of the first missionaries of Christianity in 
Ireland seem to have thought it necessary, to prove the 
superiority of the new faith, to spread the belief that its 
apostles were gifted with supernatural powers, which they 



THE DRVIDICAL RELIGION OF IRELAND. 51 

could use more especially for counteracting the malice of 
the Druids. This may have given rise to the superstitious 
belief that Patric]^ could, and did, work miracles. 

Elij all's Cliallenge and Victory. 

(1 Kings xviii. 21-40.) 

" Ye prophets of Baal ! let an offering be laid 
On the altar which you to your idol have made ; 
Let an offering be laid on the altar I rear 
To the Lord that I worship, the Lord that I fear. 
Pray ye to your god, while to my God I pray 
For the fire of his power to consume it away. 
And let him, the omnipotent, who hath bestowed 
The boon we request, be acknowledged as God. 

" Ye prophets of Baal, cry aloud, cry aloud ! 
Perhaps he is wrapped in his thoughts like a cloud. 
Cry aloud, cry aloud, with your voices of woe ! 
Perhaps he is now in pursuit of his foe. 
Cry aloud, cry aloud, like a trumpet of war ! 
Perhaps he is gone on some journey afar. 
Cry aloud, cry aloud, in your agony deep ! 
Perhaps he is laid on his pillow asleep." 

When Elijah had spoken, an altar was reared 
To the Lord that he worshiped, the Lord that he feared ; 
And he bowed him in prayer, and the fire was bestowed, 
And the God of his sires was acknowledged as God. 

Wm. Knox. 



CHAPTEE y. 

THE OBIGINAL LANGUAGE OF THE INHABITANTS OF IRELAND. 

Sweet tongue of our Druids and bards of past ages, 
Sweet tongue of our monarchs, our saints, and our sages, 
Sweet tongue of our heroes and free-born sires. 
When we cease to preserve thee, our glory expires. 

Theee can be no doubt that the Celtic language, or 
what is now usually called the Irish language, was that 
spoken by the earlier settlers of Ireland. The name 
Keltai, or Celts, was given by themselves, and about the 
third century before the Christian era it was applied by 
the Grreeks to a western people, who, when first known by 
the Romans, inhabited northern Italy, France, Belgium, 
part of Germany, western Switzerland, and subsequently 
the British Isles. Some of these Celts migrated by the 
valley of the Danube and northern Greece into Asia 
Minor, and from Asia Minor and northern Greece came 
to Ireland and also to Britain. These people spoke essen- 
tially one language, but phonetic changes occurred in the 
language of some of these people as they migrated and 
mixed with other people. Those of this race who migrated 
to Ireland and were among its earliest inhabitants, not 
mixing thereafter, as formerly, with other races, retained 
their ancient forms of speech with more tenacity and puri- 



THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGE OF THE IRISH CELTS. 53 

ty than any portions of their kindred race that occupied 
other countries. Hence the original Celtic language as 
spoken by the Irish when they first set foot upon Irish 
soil, and which is spoken in some parts of Ireland still, 
with more or less purity, is the best specimen extant of 
the ancient Celtic language. It belongs to the great family 
of Indo-European languages. 

The Celtic group of languages seems to have diverged 
from the common stock much earlier than any of the 
other members of the same wide-spread family. This 
group consists of two great branches, the Graelic and 
Kymric. There is no Celtic tongue or dialect known that 
does not belong to either the Gaelic or Kymric branch, 
although there may have been other branches of Celtic, 
which have been lost or have disappeared under Roman 
rule and influence. The Celtic languages form two distinct 
classes, viz., Irish, Scotch, and Manx — ^belonging all three 
to the Gaelic — and Welsh, Cornish, and Armoric — ^belong- 
ing to the Kymric branch. According to Dio Cassius, 
Celt is identical in meaning with Gallus, and there seems 
to be no doubt but originally the names of Gallia, Galli, 
Galatae, Celtae, were of one and the same root, and that 
Galli and Celtse denoted one and the same people; so 
also Galatse, which afterward received the more restricted 
meaning of Celts, in Asia. The word itself means pri- 
marily mighty, great — mighty men; secondarily, those 
that violently immigrate and powerfully invade a country, 
who appear to the inhabitants as hostile people, enemies ; 
thus, it means an enemy, and subsequently, when hostili- 
ties have subsided, a stranger, foreigner. 



54 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

The Irish language, more than any other, has preserved 
most of its primitive, genuine, original, and antique forms. 
More than any other it has transmitted to us the most 
grammatical and lexical condition of the Celtic languages. 
From its comprehensive extension, its literary treasures, 
and the antiquity of the written monuments in Irish, it is 
certainly by far the most important and interesting, not 
only of the Graelic, but of all the Celtic languages. 

The Irish language is, moreover, decidedly superior to the 
other Gaelic dialects, in the extent, culture, and antiquity 
of its literature, but all belong to the same great parent- 
stock of Indo-European languages; and the affinity of 
Celtic with Sanskrit and the entire Aryan family has been 
established beyond any reasonable doubt. The Celtic 
tongues sustain to Sanskrit quite as close and consistent 
a relation as any other of the Indo-European languages ; 
and even where the Celtic seems most widely to diverge 
from Sanskrit and the Aryan languages, the philologist 
will discover that the most genuine and remarkable Indo- 
European family features still, and that, too, in a preemi- 
nent degree, exist under the surface, as is the case in the 
aspirated and unaspirated forms of nouns, etc. 

The Celts appear to have been the first Aryans to arrive 
in Europe, and their tongue forms the most western stem 
of the Indo-European languages. Indeed, the very name 
Ireland (which has been so often analyzed and explained) 
seems to mean simply the land of Ires or Eres — in other 
words, the country of the Aryes, that is, the "nobles," 
" warriors," " heroes." 



THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGE OF THE IRISH CELTS, 55 

A great many Celtic roots are identical with those of 
Sanskrit, and the Irish language possesses also very many 
words that are derived from or connected with such San- 
skrit roots as have been hitherto standing isolated, and 
could in no way be analyzed, classified, or accounted for 
in dictionaries. The Celtic roots are, moreover, for the 
greatest part, monosyllabic, like those of Sanskrit and the 
Indo-European languages. These roots are in the Irish, 
as well as in Sanskrit, always, at least in their original or 
primitive condition, of the nature of a verb. Also many 
substantives in Celtic (Graelic and Kymric) are closely 
allied to Sanskrit roots. The system of derivation and 
composition of words is analogous, and often the same in 
Celtic and Sanskrit. 

A large number of Celtic compounds are such as can be 
explained only by Sanskrit, and must have existed already 
before the time when these languages branched from the 
common parent-stock. The whole system of grammatical 
forms in the Celtic is closely connected with Sanskrit, 
notwithstanding some changes which have occurred in the 
long process of time. The anomalies in Celtic can often 
find their full explanation only through Sanskrit, and also 
their elements can be derived in the last analysis only 
from Sanskrit. In the system of conjugation, the affinity 
between Irish and Sanskrit becomes particularly apparent. 
The power and facility of forming compounds is very 
great in Irish, and may fairly be compared with the G-reek, 
German, and Sanskrit. These compounds display the 
richness, elegance, and flexibility of the Irish language; 



56 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

and it is especially in poetical prodnctions that we meet 
in Irish with combinations of nonns which come very near 
to the much admired Sanskrit compounds. 

It is also worthy of remark that the other Celtic lan- 
guages here and there, Welsh excepted, possess nothing 
of this compared with the Irish. As already stated, the 
whole phonetic system of the Celtic group is intimately 
related with that of Sanskrit. 

But it is not so much in the Irish of the present day 
that all the resemblance, analogy, and relationship with 
Sanskrit, Zend, and the classic languages are most clearly 
to be seen. We have often to resort to the old Irish to 
obtain a full view of these manifold connections. Thus, 
we find there a complete declension, in many respects 
more so than in the Latin ; with ^\q cases in the singular, 
four in the plural, and two in the dual. 

The Irish language is, moreover, very regular in its 
grammar. It has only such grammatical forms as are 
indispensable for defiiiiteness and perspicuity. It has 
no indefinite articles, neither has Sanskrit or Arabic, and 
some other languages. Irish has but one main past tense 
and one future. The same is the case with Hebrew and 
Arabic. 

The Irish is indeed the prominent and perfect language 
of the Celtic group. It surpasses in richness, beauty, and 
elegance many other languages, and among them even 
some of the most cultivated and best organized. In poet- 
ry and romance, in tales and songs, it displays its greatest 
charms and all its wonderful- beauty. It has lost noth- 
ing of its excellence and perfection, notwithstanding the 



THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGE OF THE IRISH CELTS. 57 

changes to wMcli it has been subjected. Its intense en- 
ergy and power, its refined elegance, its exquisite beauty 
and marvelous flexibility, have made it possible to repre- 
sent by a most successful translation all the original per- 
fection of Homer's "Iliad," turned into Irish by the late 
Archbishop of Tuam. The Celtic is extremely rich in the 
words which have come down to us, with all their primi- 
tive freshness, in their unadulterated original form, and 
that from the remote ages of dim prehistoric times. 

The luxuriant lexical growth and richness of the Irish 
language are also apparent by the fact that, should all the 
existing glossaries, old and new, be added together, we 
should have at least thirty thousand words, besides those 
in printed dictionaries — a richness of vocabulary to which, 
perhaps, not a single living language can bear even a re- 
mote comparison, and for this reason it is the only Celtic 
tongue which has entirely escaped the subversive influence 
of the Eoman rule and dominion. 

A comparison of Celtic and Sanskrit words would throw 
a clear light upon the relationship that exists between the 
two languages, but we can specify only a few. There is 
no cognate word in any Indo-European language to the 
Sanskrit verb tag^ to go, but in the Irish we find it in tag^ 
to approach, and in tig\ to come. In Sanskrit we have 
ira^ earth, and in Irish, ire^ field, land; in Sanskrit we 
have vasra, shelter, and in Irish, fosra, bed ; in Sanskrit 
we have ing, to move, in Irish we have ing, movement ; in 
Sanskrit we have dak, to burn, in Irish we have dagJi, to 
burn; and so on. Hundreds of words are so similar as 
to leave no doubt that the Sanskrit and Irish are closely 



58 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

related in origin. And it should be remembered that al- 
though there are several dialects of the Irish, the written 
and especially the literary language has been compara- 
tively little affected by them, and has remained almost 
uniform and everywhere the same. 

The Irish language is therefore a venerable mother- 
tongue, superior to a great number of languages spoken 
on European soil — superior for its antiquity, its origi- 
nality, its purity, its remarkable pleasing euphony, and 
easy harmonious flow ; its poetical adaptation, musical 
nature, and picturesque expressiveness ; its vigorous vital- 
ity, freshness, energy, and inherent power ; its local, sys- 
tematic, regular, and methodically constituted grammar; 
its philosophic structure and wonderful literary suscepti- 
bility. 

Many works exist in the Irish language, but chiefly only 
in manuscript. The principal collections of Irish manu- 
scripts are to be found in the Royal Irish Academy and 
in Trinity College, Dublin. The British Museum, the 
Bodleian Library, and several of the continental libraries 
of Europe also, contain numerous old and very valuable 
Irish manuscripts. 

It has been ascertained that a greater number of valu- 
able ancient Irish documents are extant as manuscripts 
than either English or French or any European nation 
can boast of. A scholar in Grermany has made an esti- 
mate, showing that it would take about one thousand 
volumes, in octavo form, to publish the Irish literature 
alone which is contained in the extant manuscripts from 
the sixth to the eleventh century. 



THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGE OF THE IRISH CELTS. 59 

It may also be of interest to record that the Celtic lan- 
guages constituted once a far-extending family of related 
tongues, which about two thousand years ago actually 
covered a larger ground than Latin, G-reek, and German 
combined, and that many valuable works have been pub- 
lished to aid the learner in the study of these languages, 
but especially in acquiring a fair and thorough knowledge 
of Irish. 

But the literary productions in Irish are not only very 
numerous, they extend also to a wonderful variety of sub- 
jects and departments of mental conception and activity, 
such as poetry, history, laws, grammar, etc., and it is a 
well-known fact that many legends of French and German 
poets in the middle ages derive their origin from Irish and 
other Celtic songs. 

The Irish epic literature is abundant, and of great inter- 
est. The Irish songs and poems of old were first preserved 
as oral traditions, and were at a much later period com- 
mitted to writing, afterward were variously combined, and 
appeared finally in a regular, well-connected form. 

In all the beautiful songs and Irish poems, stories, and 
romances there is a wonderful productiveness and origi- 
nality and a most surprising power of invention, such as 
we find in the oriental tales, which for so long a time were 
the delight of the whole western world. In lyric poetry 
the Irish literature has evinced, and always maintained, 
an astonishing superiority. Irish historians mention works 
written even in pagan times in Ireland ; and of these the 
most famous was the " Saltair of Tara," a work which has 
not come down to us, but is described as having been a 



go THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

complete collection of metrical essays and dissertations on 
the laws and usages of Ireland. Its author is said to have 
been Cormac MacArt, king of Ireland from 227 to 266 a.d. 
The "Book of Aichill" is one of the principal monu- 
ments of Irish jurisprudence. A part of the regulations 
and laws contained in this book are attributed to Cormac 
MacArt. 

The Brehon Code seems to be an embodiment and a 
collection of very ancient oral traditions and customs 
relating to law; and what increases its interest and im- 
portance is the fact that it is in no wise influenced by the 
Eoman system. Its language is of a very archaic type, 
the oldest form of Irish. 

It has been said that " had there come nothing down to 
us but this collection of laws, it would have been amply 
sufficient to testify to the antiquity of the old Irish civil- 
ization and literary culture." The original text of the 
Brehon Laws is of high antiquity. They were elaborated 
and committed to writing in the time of King Laogaire II., 
son of Niall of the Nine Hostages. This was done mostly 
at Teamhair (Tara). These judgments of pagan "bre- 
hons " are said to have been subsequently revised, remod- 
eled, purified, and changed on the conversion of the Irish 
to Christianity. These modifications are attributed to the 
influence of St. Patrick, under the guidance of a chief 
Druid. 

The Brehon Code seems to have maintained its author- 
ity among the native Irish for a period of twelve hundred 
years. As to the authors who were directly concerned 
with the elaboration of these laws, they were nine in num- 



THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGE OF THE IRISH CELTS. 61 

ber (" knowledge of nine persons " is the name given to it 
on that account) ; they were the nine pillars of the Senchas 
Mor, as the text says. 

The Brehon Code must impress the reader favorably by 
the refinement of its morals, as well as by the skill and in- 
genuity which are evinced in the discussion of the cases, 
the nicety of the distinctions, and the accuracy of the defi- 
nitions and classifications. Its judgments and penalties 
are, to a great extent, mild and human ; and in regard to 
various points a somewhat considerable latitude seems to 
be allowed. Some laws relating to damages done to or by 
animals, etc., remind us of some more or less analogous 
regulations in the Jewish " Mishna." There exists, also, a 
remarkable analogy with the laws of Manu and the legal 
customs of the Hindus ; not only in regard to fines, but 
particularly to the " Fasting," in certain cases, where the 
contending parties would go before the residence of the de- 
fendant and wait there without food for some time. This 
corresponds, in a measure, to the dherna, which was com- 
monly resorted to by the creditors in Hindustan, when 
they went to sit at the door of a debtor, rigorously abstain- 
ing from all food, and threatening to commit suicide by 
starvation ; intending thereby to compel the debtor to re- 
turn a loan, or fulfil his obligations toward the claimant. 

Since the first grammar of Irish language was made in 
the seventh century many grammars and dictionaries have 
been published, which we need not enumerate, and there 
have been many prominent and successful workers in the 
domain of Celtic erudition through many centuries till the 
present. It must suffice to state that a professorship of 



52 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

the Irisli language exists in Trinity College, Dublin, in the 
Queen's College at Belfast, in that of Cork, of Galway, the 
college of Maynooth, and in the Catholic University. 

A professorship of Celtic also exists in Paris, at the 
College de France, a chair which is very ably filled by 
Professor Jubainville. Also Professor Gaidoz lectures in 
Paris on the Celtic languages and literature. 

As a spoken language, the following statement in regard 
to Irish may be of interest. According to the census of 
1851, Irish was spoken exclusively by 319,602 persons, 
especially in the provinces of Connaught and Munster; 
while English as well as Irish was spoken by 1,204,688 
persons : thus, for nearly one fourth of the whole popula- 
tion of Ireland it was then still a living tongue. Twenty 
years later, according to the census of 1871, 103,562 per- 
sons could speak the Irish only; and 817,875 persons 
spoke Irish and English. Nowadays it is especially among 
the rural classes and native landowners in Connaught, 
Munster, the remote parts of Ulster, the south of Leinster, 
as well as in the islands oft the western coast of Ireland, 
that Irish is still retained as the every-day language in the 
family circles and the entire social relations at home. 

It is stated that members of old Irish families who dis- 
tinguished themselves in the armies of the Continent felt 
proud of their Gaelic mother-tongue, and continually used 
it in their intercourse, while it was also commonly spoken 
by the Irish soldiers in France, and in the American army 
during the War of Independence. No Eoman legions in- 
vaded Ireland, although for its commerce, resources, and 
advanced state of civilization it was the most important 



THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGE OF THE IRISH CELTS. 53 

of all the Celtic countries. Tacitus informs us that the 
Irish seaports were better known through commerce, and 
were more frequented by the merchants, than those of 
Britain. Historians also tell us that Ireland retained its 
Celtic institutions, laws, and literature for more than 
twelve hundred years, after all the other Celtic countries 
had been subjugated and transformed. Education, cul- 
ture, and learning gained more and more ground among 
the Irish ecclesiastics ; and a school founded at Armagh 
and another at Bangor became far-famed and renowned 
throughout all Europe. In the early part of the middle 
ages, Ireland, which was at that time spoken of as the Isle 
of Saints, was regarded as a center of light and intelligence, 
and was the focus of a remarkable literary and Christian, 
activity. Ireland soon enjoyed the fame of being the most" 
enlightened country of all western Europe. It then had 
the best scholars and the most advanced condition of learn- 
ing. More than any country of Europe, it was particularly! 
among the Irish that men of acute minds and extensive 
knowledge, and real philosophers, were found. It was also 
in Ireland that literature and philosophy of the highest order 
were taught, and the Saxons from all places flocked to Ire- 
land as the great emporium of letters. The Irish monks, 
more than any others, were especially esteemed for their ex- 
traordinary artistic skill. There is preserved in the library 
of Trinity College, Dublin, the " Book of Kells," which is 
written in Latin, and competent writers declare it is the 
most exquisite specimen in the world of that minute and 
intricate style of illuminating in which the Irish excelled 
and were the foremost among all others. 



64 THE STOBY OF ST. PATRICK. 

But space will not permit us to extend these observa- 
tions on the language of the Celts. It must suffice for 
our object to record our opinion that had the Irish lan- 
guage been appreciated at the proper time, and gospel mis- 
sionaries having the spirit, tact, and courage of Ireland's 
patron saint been sent among the people, Ireland to-day 
might have been throughout its whole length and breadth 
a united, prosperous, happy, rejoicing people. But the 
error was made of not giving the gospel to the people 
in the language of Erin Mavourneen acushla Machree — the 
language, a century or two back, of several millions of the 
inhabitants of the island. The gospel has been given to 
other nations in their native tongue, why not to Ireland! 
— given not partially and spasmodically, but generally and 
continuously wherever the Irish language was spoken. 
There is no language more expressive of the finer feelings 
of the soul than the Irish, and no people more susceptible 
to good impressions than they are when approached in the 
proper manner and their confidence gained. Every true 
lover of the gospel and of human souls must therefore 
wish that the truth as it is in Jesus may be proclaimed to 
every man in the language in which he was born. 

And oh ! be it heard in that language endearing. 

In which the fond mother her lullaby sung. 
Which spoke the first lispings of childhood, and bearing 

The father's last prayer from his own silent tongue ; 
That so as it breathes the pure sound of devotion. 
And speaks with the power that still'd the rough ocean, 
Each breast may be calmed into gentle emotion. 
And Erin's wild harp to hosannas be strung. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE PROGKESS OF CHRISTIANITY BEFORE THE TIME OF PATRICK 

'Tis hmlt on a rock, and the tempest may rave ; 
Its solid foundation repels the proud wave. 
Though Satan himself should appear in the van, 
Truth smiles at the rage of the infidel clan. 

"Like the sun going forth" in his mighty career, 
To gladden the earth, and to illumine each sphere, 
The chariot of Truth shall in majesty roll 
O'er climate, isle, ocean, to each distant pole. 

A glorified course it shall nobly pursue, 
Encircling with radiance both G-entile and Jew ; 
And millions of heathens, their idols despising. 
Shall bask in the light, and exult in its rising. 

The shadows that cover the regions of Ham 
Shall vanish, or fiame with the light of the Lamb ; 
Each lovely green island that gems the salt wave 
His truth shall convert, his philanthropy save. 

Marsden. 

Jesus Christ was the flower, the fulfilment, and perfec- 
tion of all that was in Judaism. His system of religion 
under this dispensation was founded upon himself, was 
inaugurated in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, and 
was designed to gather into one the children of God that 
are scattered abroad in every nation under heaven. The 

65 



66 THE STOBY OF ST. PATRICK. 

followers of Christ obtained their name "Christians" at 
Antioch in Syria; and the first city in the world which 
openly professed Christianity and built the first church 
edifice was Edessa, or Osroboena, in the north of Mesopo- 
tamia, very near the river Euphrates. 

It was therefore in the East, and not in the West, that 
Christianity as a religion was founded, obtained its most 
venerable and abiding name, inaugurated its commence- 
ment, began to disseminate its principles, and to spread 
far and wide its blessings. 

The Apostles in person widely spread this Christianity. 
The last words uttered by Christ on earth seemed to en- 
join this course. His words were these: "Ye shall be 
witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, 
and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." 
In accordance with this injunction of the Master the Apos- 
tles soon commenced their missionary tours as pioneers of 
a new faith, whose duty it was to carry it far and near, 
and whose geographical field of action was literally the 
world. Jerusalem was, however, their common and habit- 
ual headquarters. It was there Paul met Peter by appoint- 
ment. It was there, fourteen years afterward, that Paul 
and Barnabas went to communicate to the other pillars of 
the church their mode of addressing the gospel to the 
Gentiles. It was there that the Apostles, with the elders 
and brethren, met" in solemn conclave and established the 
great canon which absolved the Gentiles from the practice 
of circumcision. It was Jerusalem that was probably a 
center for charitable contributions (Acts xi. 27-30 ; Eom. 
XV. 26 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 3). 



CHRISTIANITY BEFORE THE TIME OF PATRICK. 67 

It will be thus seen that Christianity had a local central 
position in and around the cradle of its birth. The Medi- 
terranean Sea afforded the silver border on one side the 
lands of its early life. Palestine, Asia Minor, southern 
Europe (including Grreece, Italy, and southern Graul), and 
northern Africa (including Egypt and Numidia) were the 
first countries subdued by the power of the gospel. It 
was planted in the very heart of the world's greatest civil- 
ization as well as of its greatest superstition and heathen- 
ism. In the soil where Greek and Latin culture attained 
its greatest glory and reached its highest victories there 
Christianity ascended the throne, showing it was the power 
of God and the wisdom of God. During these earliest 
years of its history it experienced opposition from Juda- 
ism on the one hand, and heathenism, backed by national 
pride and arrogance, on the other. For two hundred and 
forty-nine years, with short intervals of peace, it struggled 
with severe persecutions, and produced the grandest heroes 
the world has ever known. It went on extending its terri- 
tories and entering upon new fields and countries to sub- 
due the powers of sin. It moved west and north into the 
heart of Europe, to Italy, Spain, France, Britain, Germany^ 
Scandinavia, and Eussia, and wherever it went it conferred 
blessings and won victories. 

It is impossible to fix the exact date when the gospel 
was first introduced into Britain, nor can the channels, 
through which it came be determined with certainty. 
There is reason to believe that the gospel came to Britain 
chiefly in the track of commerce. The Tyrians traded 
with Britain for ages before the Christian era. The Car- 



68 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

thaginians, after the capture of Tyre by Alexander, inlier- 
ited for a time the commerce of Britain. The Greeks, 
first as rivals and then as successors to the Carthaginians, 
took possession of the exports and imports of Britain. 
Marseilles, a Grreek colony in France, said to have been 
founded five hundred years before Christ, was the grand 
depot to which the tin, lead, and skins of Britain were 
conveyed, and from which they were transported to all 
parts of the world with which the Greeks had commercial 
relations. The conversion of many Greeks in early Chris- 
tian times accomplished much for the spread of the gos- 
pel, and even through business relations that intelligent 
and resolute people sometimes rendered great service in 
extending Christ's kingdom. "We have reason to believe 
that Greek Christians, buying their tin and lead, compas- 
sionated the idolatrous Britons who exported these scarce 
naetals, and preached Christ unto them. 

The first known church in France was founded by 
Greeks, and in 177 a.d. the Christians of Vienne and Lyons 
were sorely persecuted. After the persecutions ceased the 
surviving Christians wrote a long account of their suffer- 
ings to their Phrygian brethren ; this record of their suf- 
ferings was sent to their fellow-believers in Asia Minor. 
These Greek Christians, both in France and in the East, 
gave effective help to the evangelization of Britain. The 
peculiarity of the British churches is evidence that their 
origin was from the churches of Asia Minor and not from 
Eome. The commercial intercourse existing between Brit- 
ain and Asia Minor made it quite possible that this should 
have occurred, and it is well known that these churches 



CEIUSTIJXITY BEFORE THE TIME OF PATRICK. 59 

were ecclesiastically independent, and long withstood the 
authority of the Eomish papacy. It must be remembered, 
too, that every believer in early times proclaimed the gos- 
pel wherever men would listen, and that often then the 
Holy Spirit came in more than pentecosta] power, turning 
pagans in teeming multitudes to Christ and his cross, and 
setting their weapons upon their idols. By these means 
the whole of south Britain was brought to the Saviour 
without a historical trace of any great missionary leader. 

One historian in the early centuries tells us that about 
63 A.D. the gospel sent its beams of light into the British 
Isles and produced fruit that lived in Christian hearts; 
another distinguished writer, of the second century, gives 
a list of countries into which the gospel had been carried, 
and uses these words, " parts of Britain not reached by 
the Romans, but subjugated to Christ"; and still an- 
other writer, of the third century, says that believers in 
Christ crossed the ocean into those islands called British ; 
another historian, of the fourth century, writes that the 
first heralds of the cross persuaded not only the Romans, 
etc., but Britons, etc., to embrace the religion of Him who 
had been crucified ; and Lucian, a British king, is declared 
to have been a Christian in 180 a.d. 

It is impossible, as we have said, to assert with any 
certainty by what means Christianity made its way into 
Britain. Eusebius, it is recorded, certainly believed the 
Britons were converted as early as the apostolic age, and 
uses these words : " The Apostles preached the gospel in 
all the world, and some of them passed beyond the ocean 
to the Britannic Isles." Another writer asserts that " Aris- 



70 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICE. 

tobulus, one of the seventy," brouglit Christianity into 
Britain ; and another maintains that Claudia, the wife of 
Pndens, mentioned in 2 Tim. iv. 21, was a British princess. 
Another eminent historian says that Joseph of Arimathea 
brought the gospel to Britain. Others assert that Chris- 
tianity was introduced there by the Apostle Peter ; others, 
by the Apostle Paul ; others, by James the son of Zebedee ; 
and others, by Simon Zelotes. A careful historian, who 
has examined each of these averments, concludes thus: 
"By all this, it doth not appear that the first preachers 
of the gospel in Britain did so much as touch at Rome, or 
received any command or commission from that quarter 
to convert Britain." 

It should be stated that the difficulty of ascertaining 
who did inaugurate Christianity in Britain arises from the 
fact which the earliest of all the English historians asserts, 
viz., that the early records of the country were all destroyed 
by wars, and everything had to be gleaned from foreign 
sources and from the narratives of exiles. 

There is, however, sufficient ground for concluding that 
Britain was the first of all islands that, received the light 
of Christ's religion, even though it may not have been, as 
one learned professor of church history maintains, as early 
as five or six years after Christ's ascension. But whenever 
the gospel reached Britain, it may be confidently asserted 
that it came in a direct line from the Asiatic churches. 
Indeed, one of the most erudite and unwearied historians 
maintains that devout men from Asia established Chris- 
tian discipline among the ancient Britons. There must 
have been an organized Christian church in Britain in the 



CHRISTIANITY BEFORE THE TIME OF PATRICK. 7I 

beginning of the fourth century, for there were British 
Christian bishops at the Council of Aries in 314 a.d. One 
of these bishops was from Wales. 

At that time the Irish had possession of many places in 
west and south Britain, and must have come in contact 
with Christians. These Christians were more numerous 
and the church better organized in south Wales and south- 
west Britain, where the Munster or southern Irish were, 
than in north Wales, held by the Scots proper. 

Christianity may therefore have found its way into 
Munster some time in the fourth century, and although 
no organized church may have existed in Ireland before 
the advent of St. Patrick, there may have been several 
Christian communities in the south of Ireland, and it is 
almost certain that the church founded by St. Patrick 
was identical in doctrine with the churches of Britain and 
Gaul, and others that had received the gospel through 
the same instrumentality. These may have resembled the 
primitive church, whose chief traits are set forth in these 
lines : 

Happy the souls that first believed, 
To Jesus and to each other cleaved ; 
Joined by the unction from above 
In mystic fellowship of love. 

Meek, simple followers of the Lamb, 
They lived and spake and thought the same, 
Brake the commemorative bread. 
And drank the spirit of their Head. 

To Jesus they performed their vows, 
A little church in every house ; 



72 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

They joyfully conspired to raise 
Their ceaseless sacrifice of praise. 

With grace abundantly endued, 
A pure, believing multitude. 
They all were of one heart and soul, 
And only love inspired the whole. 

Historians did undoubtedly discover traces of Chris- 
tianity in Ireland before the coming of Patrick — as in 
the case of Cormac MacArt, the great reforming king of 
the third century, who certainly renounced druidism, and 
who gave, as his final testimony to his belief in Christian- 
ity, his dying orders not to bury his body in a cemetery of 
idolaters, but to lay it elsewhere, with his face toward the 
east ; and also, in the case of St. Kieran of Saigir, who was 
probably born in 352, and who was called the first-born of 
the saints of Ireland. His memory still survives on the 
island of Cape Clear, whose shore bears the name of St. 
Kieran's Strand, and his kinsmen, who owned the adjoin- 
ing land, are characterized as " the first who believed in 
the cross, and granted a site for a church." The ruins of 
a small church, called Kilkieran, still exist in that locality. 
^ To Patrick, however, belongs the undoubted honor of 
having been " the Apostle of Ireland," and the true founder 
of the Christian church there. There may have been occa- 
sional and isolated efforts to evangelize some parts of Ire- 
land before his time; but Christianity was practically 
unknown there before the arrival of Patrick. By his 
efforts, and through his instrumentality, the gospel was 
preached, multitudes were converted, preachers commis- 
sioned, and churches built over a wide area. His story, 



CHBISTIANITY BEFORE THE TIME OF PATRICK. 73 

divested of fabulous accretions, is deeply interesting, and 
one of the most remarkable chapters in the history of 
Christ's kingdom upon the earth. 

There are probably a dozen lives of St. Patrick written 
in the early centuries, but none earlier than the middle of 
the seventh century; and all these lives contain many 
incredible statements, while fable and legend abound in 
their pages. He, therefore, who would write a truthful 
statement concerning Patrick must depend chie:av on his 
own writings, described by Sir Samuel Fergusop as " the 
oldest documents in British history." 

Grlorious things of thee are spoken, 

Zion, city of our Grod ; 
He whose word cannot be broken 

Formed thee for his own abode. 
On the Rock of Ages founded, 

What can shake thy sure repose? 
With salvation's walls surrounded, 

Thou mayst smile at all thy foes. 



CHAPTEE YII. 

patkick's bibthplace and birth. 

O Caledonia, stern and wild, 

Meet nurse for a poetic child ; 

Land of brown heath and shaggy wood, 

Land of the mountain and the flood, 

Land of my sires ! what mortal hand 

Can e'er untie the filial band 

That knits me to thy rugged strand ! 

There is no historical data upon which to base a cor- 
rect conclusion regarding the year, the month, or the day 
of the month upon which Patrick was born. The year 
has varied from 373 to 396. The month — well, it may be 
said of it as was said of Moses's sepulcher, " no man know- 
eth of it until this day." The day of the month — there is 
no more certainty regarding this than there is regarding 
"the year or the month. The nearest approach to fixing 
the day of his birth is contained in the following facetious 
lines, furnished the writer by a friend who has ransacked 
all history to find the day. The lines are from the pen of 
Samuel Lover. 

On the eighth day of March it was, some people say, 
That St. Patrick at midnight he first saw the day; 
While others declare 'twas the ninth he was born. 
And 'twas all a mistake, between midnight and morn ; 

74 



PATRICK'S BIRTHPLACE AND BIRTH. 75 

For mistakes will occur in a liuny and shock, 
And some blamed the baby and some blamed the clock ; 
Till, with all their cross-questions, sure, no one could know 
If the child was too fast or the clock was too slow. 



Now the first faction fight in ould Ireland, they say, 

Was all on account of St. Patrick's birthday ; 

Some fought for the eighth, for the ninth more would die, 

And who wouldn't see right, sure, they blackened his eye ! 

At last both the factions so positive grew. 

That each kept a birthday, so Pat then had two. 

Till Father Mulcahy, who showed them their sins, 

Said no one could have two birthdays but a pair of twins. 

Says he, " Boys, don't be fighting for eight or for nine. 
Don't be always dividing, but sometime combine. 
Combine eight with nine, and seventeen is the mark. 
So let that be his birthday." "Amen," says the clerk. 
If he wasn't a twin, sure, our history will show 
That at least he is worth two saints that we know. 
Then they all got blind drunk, which completed their bliss, 
And we kept up the practice from that day to this. 

Though it may be difficult, if not impossible, to deter- 
mine the exact date of Patrick's birth and death, the place 
of his birth, or, to be more accurate, where his father 
lived, has been told by himself. However, here are the 
opening words of the " Confession " : " I, Patrick, a sinner, 
the rudest and the least of all the faithful, and most con- 
temptible to very many, had for my father Calpornius, a 
deacon, a son of Potitus, a presbyter, who dwelt in the 
village of Bannavem Tabernise, for he had a small farm 
hard by the place. I was taken captive. I was then nearly 
sixteen years of age. I did not know the true Grod, and I 
was taken to Ireland in captivity with so many thousand 



76 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICE. 

men, in accordance with our deserts, because we departed 
from God." 

Scholars are now almost unanimous in placing Banna- 
vem Taberniae in the neighborhood of Dumbarton on the 
Clyde. In two distinct places in his '' Confession " Patrick 
speaks of going to, and being with, his parents in the 
Britains. 

In the fourth century, it must be remembered, Britain 
was divided into f^YQ provinces, called Britannia Prima, 
Britannia Secunda, Maxima Caesarienses, Flavia Csesari- 
enses, and Yalentia. Using the plural when referring to 
Britain was therefore strictly accurate during Patrick's 
life, for shortly after his death these divisions were oblit- 
erated and the country was unified. 

There is a lonely rugged rock on the river Clyde in 
Scotland which is crowned with a castle, and thus rises 
about three hundred feet above the water. It was once 
called Alcluyd, the Rock of the Clyde. The same name 
was given to a fort on its top and to a town at its foot. 
There the ancient Britons resisted the northern Scots and 
Picts. The river there was often reddened with the blood 
of the contending parties. 

The Romans had subdued the Britons, who looked 
afterward to their conquerors for defense. The Romans 
made a stronghold of this rock, and built a wall from it 
across the country to the Frith of Forth. A large British 
population from Cumberland, England, came in very early 
times into Dumbarton, Scotland. From these settlers 
the kingdom of Strathclyde was formed. This comprised 
the country between the Clyde and Solway governed by 



PATRICK'S BIRTHPLACE AND BIRTH. 77 

princes of its own, and having the fortress town of Alclyde 
or Dumbarton for its capital. Its people maintained their 
own sovereignty until 1124, when the country was united 
to the Scottish kingdom under David I. Dumbarton in 
Scottish Gaelic is Dun Boreatuin, the city of the Britons. 
It formed the western termination of the Roman wall, 
built by Agricola a.d. 80, which extended from the Frith 
to the Clyde. 

Patrick's birth therefore took place in or near Dumbar- 
ton, among the Strathclyde Britons, and though the place 
of his birth is now in Scotland, yet for centuries before 
Patrick was born and for centuries afterward the place be- 
longed to the Britons, from whom Patrick himself sprung. 

Dumbarton town is situated at the confluence of the 
rivers Clyde and Leven, fourteen miles from Glasgow. 
The site was used as a naval station by the Romans, who 
called it Theodosia, and the arable lands around are com? 
posed of rich black loam, gravelly soil and clay, and the 
farmers thereon are thrifty and prosperous. The situa- 
tion of Dumbarton Castle is eminently picturesque. The 
buildings composing the fort are perched on the summit of 
a rocky mount, shooting up to the height of two hundred 
and six feet sheer out of the alluvial plain on the east side 
of the river Leven. To the east of the castle there are 
rocky eminences on the verge of the Clyde, of a similar 
form, though less isolated. The Rock of Dumbarton 
measures a mile in circumference at the base. It dimin- 
ishes in breadth near the top, which is cloven into two 
summits of different heights. The rock is basalt and has 
a tendency to columnar formation. Some parts of it have 



78 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

a magnetic quality. The fortress, naturally strong, pos- 
sesses several batteries, whicli command a very extensive 
range. The defenses are kept in constant repair, and a 
garrison is maintained in the castle. Four miles from 
this town toward Grlasgow, on the line of the old Eoman 
wall, is the modern town of Kilpatrick, which claims to be 
the birthplace of St. Patrick. 

In confirmation of the statement that Dumbarton was 
the birthplace of Patrick, it may also be adduced that in 
the old hymn of Fiacc it is said that Patrick was born in 
Nemthur, and in the margin the writer states that " that 
is a city which is in north Britain — viz., Ailcuide," — the 
ancient name of Dumbarton. Other writers in the early 
centuries designate the same village as the place of his 
, birth. In giving an account of himself Patrick does not 
tell where he was born, but simply relates that his father 
dwelt at Bannavem Tabernise, where he also was living 
when he was taken captive. Bannavem means the river's 
mouth, and the sheds, shops, and houses of entertain- 
ment set up for the accommodation of the Eoman armies, 
whether of the temporary or stationary kind, were called 
Tabernise. Here was his home, and of this place he was 
most probably a native. It may be that Patrick could 
have pointed it out to some friend, as the poet did the home 
of his early youth, and could have expressed similar feel- 
ings and resolves regarding it : 

You see the slender spire that peers 
Above the trees that skirt the stream — 

'Twas there I passed those early 3^ears 
Which now seem like some happy dream. 



PATRICK'S BIRTHPLACE AND BIRTH. 79 

You see the vale which bounds the view — 
'Twas there my father's mansion stood 

Before the grove, whose varied hue 
Is mirrored in the tranquil flood. 

There's not a stone remaining there, 

A relic of that fine old hall ; 
For strangers came the spot to share. 

And bade the stately structure fall ! 
But now, if Fortune proves my friend. 

And gives me what may yet remain, 
In that dear spot my days to end 

I'll build a mansion there again. 

Douglas Thompson. • 

Or it may be, that as he considered himself one of " the 
chief of sinners " when he wrote his " Confession," in which 
he gives an account of himself, he may have felt that he 
was unworthy of any birthplace, and did not clearly define 
it. In his old age he thought more of his home in the 
heavens ; and he may have entertained sentiments regard- 
ing his birthplace, as Severinus, a missionary on the banks 
of the Danube in the fifth century, did when he expressed 
himself in these words : " What pleasure can it be for a 
servant of God to specify his home or his descent, since 
by silence he can so much better avoid all boasting! I 
would that the left hand knew nothing of the good works 
which Christgrants the right hand to accomplish, in order 
that I may be a citizen of the heavenly country. What 
need you know, my earthly country, if you know that I 
am truly longing after the heavenly 1 But know this, that 
Grod has commissioned me to live among this heavily op- 
pressed people." 

And as an Irish barrister, Charles Phillips, said of Wash- 



go THE STOBY OF ST. PATRICE. 

ington, so it may be said of Patrick : " It matters very little 
what immediate spot may be the birthplace of such a man. 
No people can claim, no country can appropriate, him — 
the boon of Providence to the human race. I almost bless 
the convulsion in which he had his origin. In the produc- 
tion of such a man it does really appear as if Nature were 
endeavoring to improve upon herself, and that all the vir- 
tues of the ancient world were but so many studies pre- 
paratory to the patriot of the new." 

Such language applied to Patrick would almost appear 
to be an emanation from Blarney Castle, until you have 
thoroughly studied Patrick himself. 

Why should we count our life by years, 

Since years are short and pass away ? 
Or why by fortune's smiles or tears, 

Since tears are vain and smiles decay? 
Oh! count by virtues — these shall last 

When earth's lame-footed race is o'er ; 
And these, when earthly joys are past. 

May cheer us on a brighter shore. 

S. J. Hall. 



CHAPTER YIII. 

PATRICK'S PARENTAGE. 

His hair was like silvery amber, 

Strangely floating and fine, 
And soft as the down of the thistle 

That rolls in the autumn shine ; 
His eyes were lucent, supernal. 

Of a mournful, angel blue. 
And his skin like a tender roseleaf, 

With pulsing and inner hue. 

How often by night, how often 

He knelt by the window-sill 
While the tears of his prayer and his longing 

Over his cheek fell chill. 
And the billows of forest and mountain 

Seemed murmuring with his breast. 
And the rush of the mountain river 

The cry of his own unrest. 

In the wilderness' lonely border 

He roamed like a spirit-child. 
And kneeled under mossy ledges 

In his chosen chapels wild ; 
And the voice of his adoration 

Thrilled through the silence dim, 
Till the hermit thrush from her cloister 

Poured a serene, sad hymn. 

We know nothing of Patrick's ancestry farther than 
two removes back. He himself tells us that he was the 

81 



82 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

grandson of Potitus, the presbyter. These few words show 
that his blood was good. If Patrick had thought that 
his clerical ancestor had disgraced himself by marriage he 
would not probably have written that he was a minister 
of Grod's Word. But this he does in his " Confession," or 
creed, which was written when he was well advanced in 
years, so that even in his old age he did not believe in the 
celibacy of the clergy. 

Of Potitus we can learn nothing except that his office 
was held in high esteem in his times. He was most likely 
a presbyter of the early British church, for his name does 
not prove that he was a Eoman, as native names were 
often Latinized by the historian, as Patrick's own native 
baptismal name, Succath, was changed to Patricius, or 
Patrick. It is more likely that Potitus, Patrick's grand- 
father, was a Briton by birth, and that he studied the 
Scriptures and prayed in the little British kil, or church, 
at Alcluyd, and at its door preached to the people. He 
doubtless answered the description of the good pastor that 
Goldsmith describes in the following lines : 

In his duty prompt, at every call. 

He watch'd, and wept, and felt, and pray'd for all. 

At church, with meek and unaffected grace. 

His looks adorn'd the venerable place ; 

Truth from his lips prevail'd with double sway, 

And fools, who came to scoif , remain'd to pray. 

At some period a kil, or church, was located near the 
spot where St. Patrick was born. It may have been close 
by the same cottage, for there it seems a kirk, or church, 
grew up, which the people of later days called Kilpatrick, 



PATRICK'S PABENTAGE. 83 

in honor of the great missionary who was born at the 
place. 

Potitns seems to have lived to a good old age, and to 
have been worthy the respect of his grandson. It is some 
proof of his excellent family government that he reared a 
deacon. That deacon was Calpornius, the father of Pat- 
rick. If this deacon belonged to the Eomish order of or- 
dained clergy, he did not entertain Roman notions of celi- 
bacy, for he also took a wife and reared a family, of which 
" onr Patrick " was the most notable child. 

But Calpornius was most probably a deacon in the 
evangelical British church at Alcluyd, a church that was 
not regulated after the Roman model of the present day, 
but sought to follow the order of the primitive church, 
without, it may be, having any perfect system of church 
government. But Patrick's father was also a decurio, as 
he himself also tells us. The decurio was a magistrate 
and counselor in the Roman colonies in Britain, and the 
office conferred a high rank on those who held it : they 
were members of the court and counselors of the city, and 
must have a certain amount of property. Such was the 
law of Constantine for the wealthy decurios. Such a man, 
then, was Patrick's father, honored both in the church and 
state, and we may fairly conclude that Calpornius ruled 
in the state like a good deacon of the church. 

We know nothing of Patrick's mother, except that tradi- 
tion informs us that her name was Conch essa, and tradi- 
tion has it that she was a sister of Martin, Archbishop of 
Tours, and the founder of monasteries in western Europe. 
Dr. McGlinn says she was a Frenchwoman, that Patrick's 



34 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

father was a Grerman, that Patrick himself was a native 
Scotchman, and by adoption an Irishman. In a tract on 
*^ The Mothers of the Saints in Ireland," she is represented 
as a Briton. But whoever she was, we can readily believe 
she was " a woman superior to the majority of her sex," 
and that she endeavored to instill into the heart of her 
son the doctrines of Christianity. In her home, piety was 
doubtless displayed as described in the following lines : 

Lo, where yon cottage whitens through the green, 
The loveliest feature of a matchless scene. 
Beneath its shading elm, with pious fear. 
An aged mother draws her children near. 
While from the Holy Word, with earnest air. 
She teaches them the privilege of prayer. 
Look, how their infant eyes with rapture speak ; 
Mark the flush lily on the dimpled cheek ; 
Their hearts are filled with gratitude and love, 
Their hopes are centered in a world above. 
Where, in a choir of angels, faith portrays 
The loved, departed father of their days. 

E. Dawes. 

Such was the ancestry of Patrick according to the most 
reliable authorities. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE OFFICIAL POSITIONS OF PATRICK'S GEANDFATHER AND 

FATHER. 

Thou must be true thyself, 

If thou the truth wouldst teach ; 

Thy soul must overflow, if thou 
Another's soul wouldst reach; 

It needs the overflow of heart 
To give the lips full speech. 

Think truly, and thy thoughts 

Shall the world's famine feed ; 
Speak truly, and each word of thine 

Shall be a fruitful seed ; 
Live truly, and thy life shall be 

A great and noble creed. 

It may be profitable to digress for a moment to consider 
more fully what is involved in this statement that Patrick 
himself makes in connection with his father and grand- 
father's name. The former, his father, Calpornius, was a 
deacon, and the latter, Potitus, his grandfather, was a 
presbyter. Both, therefore, if it is claimed to be so, were 
clergymen in the church of that time, and both were mar- 
ried, as the Apostle Peter was, for we are told in Matthew's 
Grospel, viii. 14, " When Jesus came into Peter's house he 
saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever." 

The Brehon Laws, of which we have given some ac- 

85 



S6 THE STORY OF ST. FA THICK. 

count, and under which Ireland was governed at the period 
of which we write, constantly assume the marriage of the 
clergy. These laws state that if a clergyman fell into sin 
he could be restored to office in three days if he were 
penitent, and was the husband of one wife ; but if he were 
unmarried he could not recover his position. Married 
clergymen were therefore more favored by the law than 
if they were single. And as an additional evidence that 
clergymen married in those days, there are directions 
given in the canons of an Irish synod respecting the dress 
'of a clergyman's wife. The old annals of the Irish church 
record that an eminent clergyman at Clonmacnois was 
married, and that his father, grandfather, and great-grand- 
father, who were clergymen, were all married men. In the 
primitive Christian church the state of celibacy began to 
be extolled as holier than matrimony as early as the sec- 
ond century. The early fathers especially commended it, 
and cited, though erroneously, the example of St. Paul, as 
showing that it was, for the clergy, the better condition. 
StiU there was no law or uniformity of opinion on the 
subject, and it was not until the fourth century that even 
the higher clergy began generally to live in celibacy. Near 
the close of this century Pope Siricius forbade all priests 
to marry, and all who had married previous to ordination 
were commanded to put away their wives. The Council 
of Tours in 566 ordered that all priests and deacons who 
persisted in retaining their wives should be suspended 
from office for a year ; and the Emperor Justinian declared 
all children born to a clergyman after his ordination to be 
illegitimate and incapable of inheritance. 



PATRICK'S GRANDFATHER AND FATHER. g? 

The Eastern chnrcli, on the other hand, always opposed 
this doctrine, and the Council of Constantinople in 692 
condemned it as heretical. The orthodox Greek Church 
has therefore always sanctioned the marriage of priests. 
The opposite doctrine, however, was only established in 
the Eomish Church after many orders and interdictions, 
extending over several centuries. At last, in the eleventh 
century, it was ordered that any priest living with a wife 
should be excommunicated. Even this not being regarded 
as sufficient. Pope Grregory YII. finally carried the point 
by deposing all married priests and excommunicating all 
laymen who upheld them in the exercise of their spiritual 
functions. This decree met with violent opposition in all 
countries, but G-regory succeeded in carrying it out with 
the utmost rigor, and thus the celibacy of the Roman clergy 
was at last established and has since continued. 

We learn from St. Patrick's statement that it was not 
considered in those days inconsistent with the profession 
of a clergyman to hold a secular office. Patrick tells us 
in his "Epistle to Coroticus" that his father, though a 
deacon — a clerg^mian — held a secular office. Besides pos- 
sessing a farm, he informs us that he was a decurio, or 
member of a local town council, a Roman institution which 
at this time existed everywhere in the empire. This sim- 
ple statement is a strong proof of the authenticity of the 
epistle in which the term occurs, for soon after Patrick's 
death the institution to which he refers disappeared in 
Britain. 

The fact that Calpornius, a clergyman, held a farm, and 
was a local town councilor, conflicts in no way with the 



88 THE STOBY OF ST. PATRICE. 

usages of the time. It is certain that in the early centu- 
ries clergymen, of whatever name, earned their bread by 
their own toil, as Paul did. The history of those days 
makes it plain that clergymen cultivated farms, kept shops 
and banks, acted as physicians, shepherds, smiths, and 
artificers of all kinds. Hatch, a celebrated historian and 
lecturer, tells of one clergyman who was a weaver, of an- 
other who was a shepherd on the mountains of Cyprus, of 
another who practised in the courts of law, of another who 
was a silversmith, and of another who was an innkeeper 
at Ancyra. Patrick's own nephew, though a clergyman, 
was a pilot, and of those clergymen who were Patrick's 
companions one was a smith, and another was a maker of 
satchels for books. Patrick himself was poor, and per- 
formed gratuitously the functions of his calling, as did the 
Apostle to the Grentiles. There is no evidence in early 
Christian literature that the pursuit of a secular calling 
was incompatible with the of&ce of the Christian ministry. 
The proposal of the Montanists to pay a fixed salary to 
the clergy was condemned as an innovation alien to all 
prevailing usage. Salaries to clergy and their withdrawal 
from secular calling came into the church when it was los- 
ing its spirituality. 

Lives of great men all remind us 
We can make our lives sublime ; 

And, departing, leave behind us 
Footprints on the sands of time — 

Footprints that perhaps another. 

Sailing o'er life's solemn main, 
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother. 

Seeing, shall take heart again. 

H. W. Longfellow. 



CHAPTER X. 

patbick's baptism and eaely life. 

" Come, dearest, come, the Sabbath bell 
Hath almost rung its closing knell; 
Give me our babe, and haste away, 
With gladness on its christening-day." 

Yet still the youthful mother prest 

Her first-born darling to her breast. 

And, careful o'er the grassy way 

That 'tween the church and cottage lay. 

The precious burden chose to take. 

Scarce breathing, lest its sleep should break. 

x\nd now while holier thoughts prevail 

Her chasten'd beauty, lily-pale, 

The fervor of the prayer that stole* 

In new devotion from her soul 

Grave brighter charms to brow and cheek, 

Such as an angel's love might speak. 

Close in her steps an aged pair. 

With furrow'd face and silver hair, 

Press toward the font, intent to see 

The honor done to infancy. 

The rite is o'er, the blessing said. 
The first-born finds its cradle-bed. 
Young mother ! prompt must be thy part 
To pour instruction o'er his heart ; 
For scarce upon our infant eyes 
The sprinkled dew of baptism dries 
Ere the thick frost of manhood's care 
And strong death's icy seal are there. 

Mrs. L. H. Sigourney. 

89 



90 '^SE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

Infant baptism was observed both by the British and 
Oriental Christian churches, and as there was not in those 
days the same stately and refined mode of observing this 
sacred ordinance as in the present age, in fonts and sil- 
ver bowls set for the purpose in the churches, the child 
was carried by the parents to a well or spring or running 
stream near the church, and there the ordinance was ad- 
ministered. Churches were usually located in those days 
near a river or spring, and if this could not be conve- 
niently done, a well was dug, so that the people assembled 
for worship might have the means ready for quenching 
their thirst and that of their cattle, as well as for other 
purposes. It was at such places, and by the outpouring 
of water from the hand or from a small vessel, that num- 
bers were often baptized, while immersion of believers in 
other places was the usage. It is related in the life of 
Columba that a certain peasant, with his household, hav- 
ing heard the preaching of the word of life from the lips of 
this godly man, believed and was baptized, " the husband 
with his wife and the children and the servants." This 
was strictly in accordance with apostolic usage and that 
of the early British churches. One can easily imagine 
Patrick's father and mother going side by side, he bearing 
their infant son in his arms, and coming to the door of 
the little church in which the aged Potitus the presbyter 
was praying and studying, or around which the neighbors 
were assembled for worship, and all going together to a 
well or running stream near by, where all listened to what 
was said of God's holy covenant with hi^ people, and with 
their little ones, as explained by the presbyter Potitus ; 



FATEICK'S BAPTISM AND EARLY LIFE. 91 

and then Calpornius, the father, holding forth his child to 
receive the token of its surrender to the Father, the seal of 
its redemption by the Son, and the symbol of its renewal 
by the Holy Ghost. We can almost see the aged presbyter 
take his grandson in his arms, and with the words of 
Christ apply to him the waters of baptism, give him, 
according to an ancient British custom, the kiss of peace, 
place him in the arms of his tender, prayerful mother, and 
lift up his hands for prayer and the benediction. We are 
told that this child was given the name of Succath in his 
baptism. At a later day he was called Patrick. 

Any one can readily see that all this, or something very 
similar, may have occurred; but not so what the story- 
tellers of the middle ages inform us regarding Patrick's 
baptism, namely, this, "that Patrick was baptized by a 
blind priest who obtained water for the purpose by caus- 
ing the infant to make the sign of the cross over the earth, 
out of which issued at once a well of water which cured 
the priest of his blindness and enabled him to read in a 
book the order or ritual of baptism without knowing until 
then his letters." 

Let me here also say that there is not a word in Patrick's 
account of himself and family, or in contemporaneous 
history, to show that he had brothers and sisters. Yet 
monks several centuries afterward place on the family roll 
of Patrick's father a list of descendants long enough to 
supply two or three kingdoms with bishops, priests, monks, 
and nuns. One sister, they relate, was carried to Ireland 
and became the mother of seventeen bishops ! Another 
sister counted among her sons four bishops and three 



92 THE STOEY OF ST. PATRICK. 

priests. A third, Lemania by name, had two sons — the 
elder became a bishop and the younger a priest. 

But we must leave all these fables and devote our at- 
tention to Patrick. We know nothing of his infancy and 
boyhood up to fifteen years of age, except what we gather^ 
from the legends of the middle ages, and in these the facts ' 
are almost lost. But it is easy to believe that Patrick had 
all the human nature of a boy ; that he had all the frolic- 
some and mischievous spirit of the great majority of boys 
since ; that he often got tired of porridge for his breakfast, 
and ran away to fish for trout for dinner ; that when sent 
on an errand to town he would climb the rock and linger, 
throw snowballs at the Druids if it was winter, and talk 
with Eoman soldiers when he ought to have been herding 
his father's sheep. 

We know, for he tells us in his " Confession," that he 
was taught the holy commandments, but did not keep 
them ; that he was warned for his salvation, but did not 
heed the preachers ; that he did not know the true God 
savingly, although he had been taught the way to be 
saved and to read the Bible, whose truths his grandfather 
preached. He loved pleasure, was the leader of his youth- 
ful companions, and committed, as he tells us, a grievous 
fault, the character of which we know not. He was then 
sixteen years of age, and the end of the time for sowing 
his wild oats had come. 

Speak of me as I am ; nothing extenuate, 

Nor set down aught in malice ; then must you speak 

Of one that loved not wisely but too well. 

Shakespeake. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE CAPTIVITY OF ST. PATKICK. 

Adieu, adieu ! My native shore 

Fades o'er the waters blue ; 
The night- vrinds sigh, the breakers roar, 

And shrieks the wild sea-mew. 
Yon sun that sets upon the sea 

We follow in his flight ; 
Farewell, awhile, to him and thee. 

My native land, good-night ! 

Byron. 

Pirates in those days, Danish and Irish and Scots, 
plowed continually the channels and seas around the Brit- 
ish Isles, made inroads upon the land, plundering villages 
and towns, killing many, carrying off young and old to 
strange lands, and selling them into slavery. Irish ships 
in that period were chiefly " coracles," made of the skins 
of beasts and wicker or willow rods — a kind of boat, frail 
as it may seem, still used frequently in Arran, Achill, and 
the western coasts of Ireland. It is not probable that 
thousands of unwilling, vindictive captives could be con- 
veyed in these hide-covered basket-ships over the wide sea 
separating France from Ireland, if Patrick's parents had 
lived in France. From the coast of Antrim in Ireland to 

93 



94 J^^^ STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

Dumbarton on the Clyde the space is crossed by a steamer 
ill a few hours, and from the cUffs of the Antrim coast the 
houses in the nearest parts of Scotland can be seen. 

In one of those piratical incursions Patrick and about 
two hundred others were seized, placed in boats, whose 
prows were turned down the Clyde and headed toward 
Ireland. 

What sad thoughts Patrick must have had as he gazed 
back on the high rock so near his home. What indigna- 
tion must have burned within him toward these pirates. 
But afterward he saw a reason for it all. The hand of Grod 
was laid severely upon him to correct his evil ways, and 
his words written many years afterward clearly reveal that 
he understood the reason for the stroke of Grod's afflicting 
hand. 

The boats which carried young Patrick and his compan- 
ions with a load of spoils would be likely to land at some 
near point. Leaving the Firth of Clyde, a straight course 
west would bring them upon the Antrim coast of Ireland 
just where tradition fixes the landing. It is possible that 
in some little harbor between the Giant's Causeway and 
the mouth of the river Bann, Patrick's captors disem- 
barked, and there touched the country which gave Patrick 
years of degradation and suffering and a long life after- 
ward of wide-spread gospel triumphs. 

It may be interesting to some readers to know that the 

Giant's Causeway, near which Patrick landed in Ireland, 

is situated on its north coast, and is a curiosity which 

^ probably has no parallel in the works of nature or art. Its 

form is nearly triangular, and extends from the foot of an 



THE CAPTIVITY OF ST. PATRICK. 95 

adjacent mountain into tlie sea, having six hundred feet 
discernible at low water. It consists of innumerable five, 
six, and seven sided pillars, but irregular, as there are few 
of these pillars whose sides are of equal breadth. Nor are 
they more uniform in thickness, as they vary from twelve 
to twenty-six inches in diameter. They all touch by equal 
sides, and are so near to one another that it is sometimes 
difficult to see the joints. Neither are they uniform in 
height, some having a smooth and others an uneven ter- 
mination. Each pillar also consists of many unequal 
pieces, from twelve to twenty-four inches in length. These 
pieces are jointed into one another by concave and convex 
surfaces, highly polished, as are all the sides of the pillars 
that come in contact. This colonnade is in some parts 
thirty-two and in others thirty-six feet above the level of 
the sea, but its foundation has never been ascertained. 
One of the pillars has been broken to the depth of eight 
feet in the earth, and its figure was found to be the same 
as above the surface. The learned have never agreed in 
opinion as to whether this wonderful "causeway" is a 
work of nature or of art. Patrick, in his missionary tours 
through Ulster, doubtless visited this scene, where Nature 
still retains one of her mysteries. 

In conformity with the statement made by Patrick in his 
"Confession," history records that freebooting raids of 
the north of Ireland Scots (as the Irish then were called) 
were often made upon north Britain in the fourth and 
fifth centuries. The evidence of these raids is still found. 
In 1854 two thousand Roman coins of these centuries were 
discovered at Coleraine, some of these bearing the name 



96 THE STOEY OF ST. PATRICK. 

of Patricius. In one of these raids Patrick, along with 
many others, as we have stated, was carried away captive 
to Ireland. He was then nearly sixteen years of age. He 
was sold to Milchn, son of Hua Bain, king of north Dala- 
radia, whose residence was in the valley of the Braid near 
the hill of Slemish, and close to Broughshane, five miles 
from Ballymena. There is a town land in the valley still 
called Ballyligpatrick, or the town of Patrick's hollow. 

Milchu, his owner, employed Patrick to herd cattle, or, as 
some translators render the Irish words, " to feed swine ; " 
so, like another prodigal, he "was sent into the fields to 
feed swine." 

When Patrick was carried into captivity in his sixteenth 
year, and during the six years of his captive state, his 
condition was most deplorable. He had gospel seed indeed 
in his memory, but this did not germinate for some years. 
He had no Christian principles to guide him, and no asso- 
ciates but slaves and the lowest class of Irish idolaters, 
who could only converse upon religious subjects about 
their own " Cenn-Cruaich," the chief idol of Ireland, which 
was covered with gold and silver, surrounded with twelve 
other idols plated with brass. He had not one Christian 
companion, nor one kind heathen friend, and the natural 
result would seem to be his conforming to heathenism and 
joining in the worst sins of the neighborhood. He was. 
like "a stone," as he himself says, "deep in the mud," 
but God lifted him up and placed him upon the wall of 
the spiritual temple. 



THE CAPTIVITY OF ST. PATRICK. 97 

Oh for a faith that will not shrink, 

Though pressed by every foe ; 
That will not tremble on the brink 

Of any earthly woe ; 
That will not murmnr nor complain 

Beneath the chastening rod, 
But, in the hour of grief and pain, 

Will lean upon its Grod. 



CHAPTER XII. 

patkick's conversion in bondage. 

Thus far did I come laden with my sin, 
Nor could aught ease the grief that I was in 
Till I came hither. What a place is this ! 
Must here be the beginning of my bliss ? 
Must here the burden fall from off my back 1 
Must here the string that bound it to me crack ? 
Blest cross ! blest sepulcher ! Blest, rather, be 
The Man that there was put to shame for me. 

John Bunyan. 

Patrick remained in this degraded condition for six 
years. During that time the grace of God visited him, and 
the Spirit of the Lord took possession of him, revived the 
teachings of his early boyhood, and brought the young 
disciple to a deep and sincere Christianity. Thus severe 
trials were to him a means of grace. He remembered 
happier days. He thought upon his sins. He felt that 
he was far from Christ, the true home of his soul. He 
recalled the teachings of God's servants, and the lessons 
learned in his father's house. 

It was at this time that he became a man of prayer. One 
extract from his " Confession," as it is called, will suffice 
to prove this. 

" While I was feeding cattle," he writes, " I prayed fre- 
quently every day, and my love and fear of God and faith 

98 



PATRICK'S CONVERSION IN BONDAGE. 99 

in him continually increased. I dwelt in the woods and ? 
on the mountain, and woke up to pray before the dawn. V_ 
I felt no pain, nor frost, nor snow, nor rain, nor any sense / 
of indolence, for the Spirit was burning within me.'' / 

His early religious education in these after years thus 
began to bear fruit, in meditation, prayer, and consecra- 
tion. Such words as those we read in the " Confession " 
of this swineherd, show what Bible truths were taught and 
what gospel faith existed in the homes of British Chris- 
tians in those early days, thus giving an encouragement 
to parents in all ages to " train up a child in the way he 
should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." 
The good seed that Patrick's parents cast upon the waters 
began to bear fruit after many days. The ground of Pat- 
rick's young heart may have appeared an unlikely soil, but 
the incorruptible seed of Grod's Word was sown there amid 
the shedding perhaps of many parental tears, and at length 
it began to take root, show signs of life, spring up, and 
bud. 

During his six years' bondage in the valley of the Braid 
and on the hill Slemish, Patrick had a good opportu- 
nity for observing the condition of the natives, must have 
learned necessarily to speak their language, and evidently 
conceived for them a deep and abiding sympathy. 

On that abrupt and picturesque elevation rising from, 
the valley of the Braid, near Ballymena, County Antrim, 
called Mount Slemish, between fourteen and fifteen hun- 
dred years ago the heart of the captive boy from the 
banks of the Clyde, as he herded his cattle on its bleak 
sides, yielded to the all-conquering power of the love of 

1 rC ^ 



100 2'^^ STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

Christ. The fact is worthy of repetition. We often bow 
with wondering adoration before the sovereign grace of 
Grod, which laid a loving arrest on Saul of Tarsus as he 
drew near to the city of Damascus, and, in a double sense, 
made him a " vessel of mercy " — a vessel of mercy as re- 
garded his own personal salvation, " a chosen vessel," to 
bear the name of Christ before the Grentiles. Thousands, 
tens of thousands of conversions were, so to speak, folded 
up in the individual conversion of that intellectual and 
fanatical Jewish youth. 

So it was in the case of Patrick. He was " a chosen 
vessel" also. The spiritual change he experienced on the 
side of Slemish, interpreted in the light of subsequent 
events, may be said to have been one of the most remark- 
able and determining facts in the entire history of Ireland. 
It changed the national religion. It raised Ireland to a 
position of distinguished, and for a time unparalleled, 
honor among the nations ; and it helped to transform the 
face of Christendom itself. It seemed all unlikely that 
such results should follow the introduction of this un- 
known captive herd-boy into the kingdom of God, but 
then, as now, God's ways are not our ways, nor his plan 
of working ours. 

Hope on, hope ever ! Though to-day be dark. 

The sweet sunburst may smile on thee to-morrow ; 
Tho' thou art lonely, there's an Eye will mark 

Thy loneliness, and guerdon all thy sorrow ; 
Tho' thou must toil 'mong cold and sordid men. 

With none to echo back thy thought, or love thee, 
Cheer up, poor heart ! Thou dost not beat in vain. 

For God is over all and heaven above thee — 
Hope on, hope ever ! 



PATRICK'S CONVERSION IN BONDAGE, IQl 

Hope on, hope ever ! After darkest night 

Comes, full of loving life, the laughing morning. 
Hope on, hope ever ! Spring-tide flusht with light, 

Age crowns old winter with her rich adorning. 
Hope on, hope ever ! Yet the time shall come 

When man to man shall be a friend and brother, 
And this old world shall be a happy home, 

And all earth's family love one another ! 
Hope on, hope ever ! 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

PATRICK'S ESCAPE FROM SLAVERY. 

Pm going to my own hearthstone, 
Bosomed in yon green hills alone — 
A secret nook in a pleasant land, 
Whose groves the frolic fairies planned. 
Whose arches green, the livelong day, 
Echo the blackbird's roundelay, 
And vulgar feet have never trod — 
A spot that is sacred to thought and God. 

R. W. Emerson. 

In his "Confession" Patrick goes on to tell how he 
escaped from his place of slavery. " And there," he says 
(on the wild mountain-side), "one night in my sleep I 
heard a voice saying to me, 'Thou fastest well, [fasting 
so] thou shalt surely go to thy country.' And again, after 
a very short time I heard a response saying to me, ' Behold, 
thy ship is ready.' And it was not near, but perhaps two 
hundred miles away, and I never had been there, nor was 
I acquainted with any of the men there." 

These dreams came to him again and again, and Patrick 
felt as Grod's servants often did in Old Testament times 
when they had their dreams, that Grod by these dreams 
was indicating his mind and will to him, and that a divine 
hand and voice were in them, and he acted accordingly. 

" After this," he writes, " I took flight, and left the man 

102 



PATRICK'S ESCAPE FROM SLAVERY. 103 

with whom I had been six years, and I came in the strength 
of the Lord, who directed my way for good, and I feared 
nothing, till I arrived at that ship." 

So he goes on to relate that he found the ship ready to 
sail, but the captain refused to take him on board because 
he had no money to pay his passage. Upon this repulse 
he went to look for some cottage in the woods where he 
might securely wait for a better opportunity to make his 
escape. In the meantime he betook himself to his usual 
consolation, his prayers ; but the sailors sent after him to 
return, took him on shipboard, and hoisted sail. 

The place where he took ship has been much discussed ; 
the name has been translated Benum, near which was the 
wood Foclut, mentioned in his " Confession." This wood 
has been located in or near the parish of Killala, barony 
of Tirawley, county of Mayo. This place was about two 
hundred miles, as Patrick mentions in his " Confession," 
from the Slemish mountain where he fed the swine. 

Killala Bay is upon the northwestern coast of Ireland, 
as any one will see by looking at the map of that island. 
Killala town is situated at the extremity of the bay, on 
the west bank of the river Moy. It contains about two 
hundred houses, and has some trade in the export of grain, 
etc. The harbor affords good anchorage in about ten or 
twelve feet of water. There is good fishing, and about 
three hundred persons are employed in the pursuit an- 
nually. Six miles higher up the river, delightfully situ- 
ated, stands the town of Ballina. From that bay he doubt- 
less sailed on his escape from slavery, and "after three 
days we reached land," are the words in his " Confession," 



104 THE STOEY OF ST. PATRICK. 

and in sixty days he was among Ms kindred, who received 
him as a son. 

The voices of my home — I hear them still ! 

They have been with me through the dreamy night, 

The blessed household voices, wont to fill 

My heart's clear depths with unalloyed delight ! 

I hear them still unchanged, though some from earth 

Are music parted ; and the tones of mirth — 

Wild, silvery tones, that rang through days more bright — 

Have died in others ; yet to me they come. 

Singing of boyhood back — the voices of my home ! 

They call me through this hush of woods reposing, 

In the gray stillness of the summer morn ; 

They wander by when heavy flowers are closing. 

And thoughts grow deep and winds and stars are born ; 

Even as a fount's remember'd gushings burst 

On the parch'd traveler in his hour of thirst. 

E'en thus they haunt me with sweet sounds, till, worn 

By quenchless longings, to my soul I say, 

Oh for the dove's swift wings, that I might flee away ! 



CHAPTEE XIY. 

PATRICK AT HOME AGAIN. 

My whole though broken heart, Lord, 

From henceforth shall be thine ; 
And here I do my vow record — 

This hand, these words, are mine ; 
All that I have, without reserve, 

I offer here to thee ; 
Thy will and honor all shall serve 

That thou bestow'dst on me. 

I know that thou wast willing first, 

And then drew my consent ; 
Having thus loved me at the worst. 

Thou wilt not now repent. 
Now I have quit all self -pretense, 

Take charge of what's thine own. 
My life, my health, and my defense 

Now lie on thee alone. 

Baxter. 

There is no reliable data upon which to form a conclu- 
sion where Patrick spent several years of his life after his- 
return to his family in Scotland. 

The British churches doubtless often thought of the con- 
dition of pagan Ireland, and often prayed for its wretched 
inhabitants ; but they may have been deterred from seek- 
ing their conversion because Ireland was not under the 
protection of Roman rule. But there is evidence that 

105 



106 ^^^ STOBY OF ST. PATRICK, 

isome of these British Christians made their way to some 
places in the south of Ireland and were instrumental in 
making converts to the Christian faith; but these con- 
verts were comparatively few, and the great bulk of its 
inhabitants remained pagan. 

Patrick, as we learn from his own " Confession," was 
brought up in a Christian family in Britain, where he was 
born, and where he was taught the truth which obtained 
a lodgment in his mind, and which was impressed savingly 
on his heart when a youthful slave in pagan Ireland. This 
truth he was taught in the godly home of Deacon Calpor- 
nius his father, and in the church of which his father was 
a member and of&cer. 

When Patrick escaped from slavery and returned to his 
home and once more enjoyed Christian society, his be- 
lieving experience was greatly enlarged, his reliance upon 
€hrist strengthened, and, as he explains in his " Confes- 
sion," he decided to become a missionary to the Irish. It 
was but natural and proper, therefore, that he should de- 
vote his time and talents in order to prepare himself for 
the great work to which he had devoted himself. One of 
the powerful agencies for extending the gospel among the 
ancient Britons was the establishment of great monastic 
•schools where the Bible was studied and literary instruc- 
tion imparted. 

Some of those who were at the head of these institu- 
tions were men of great piety and learning. Their know- 
ledge of the Old and New Testaments was so remarkable 
that their fame spread over the whole country, and schol- 
ars came from every part to them and spent several years 



PATRICK AT HOME AGAIN. 107 

in the study of literature and divinity. These students 
supported themselves by cultivating the land belonging to 
these institutions and by catching the fish in the rivers. 

Into some of these schools thousands of students were 
gathered, to whom instruction was imparted in every 
branch of knowledge and especially in the teachings of 
Scripture. Patrick most likely spent several years in 
these schools preparing for his entrance upon his Irish 
mission, in which the Saviour was about to give him the 
whole country as his reward. 

Patrick, as we have seen, having been carried away 
captive from home and school in his teens, his educational 
success was hindered, and he did not have, therefore, the 
great positive advantages of his school companions, who 
were permitted to pursue their studies, who were taught 
in the best way, and drank in the prescribed literature in 
a proper manner. His apology for his own educational 
defects implies a testimony to the superior instruction of 
the schools of Dumbarton. In those days there were 
ninety-two cities in Britain, thirty-three of which were 
conspicuous and celebrated, and which had these schools. 
Dumbarton was one of these, where St. Patrick's father 
was a decurio, or a member of the city council. At this 
time the people were civilized and surrounded in many 
cases with comforts and luxuries. Their gardens and 
villas were in some instances models of elegance. The 
students in these schools were called monks, a name which 
primarily only meant those who secluded themselves for 
purposes of study and devotion. These monks led stricter 
lives than others within their own houses. Having retired 



K 



108 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

from the common employments of the world for sacred 
studies and prayer, their chief occupation, next to their 
devotions, was the study of the Scriptures, while some 
learned godly person instructed the disciples in the Holy 
Word. 

It will tend to show the importance attached to educa- 
tion in those early times, and especially for the prepara- 
tion of ministers for their work, when it is stated that in 
Britain there was at this time a valuable system of public 
education. It was for the free and superior classes. Each 
city maintained a certain number of professors, according 
to its size and population, who taught grammar, rhetoric, 
and philosophy. These professors were appointed by the 
magistrates and partly paid by municipal funds. In other 
words, the instructors received a salary from the city and 
a small fixed sum from each pupil. These instructors 
were exempt from taxation and military service. These 
public schools were manned in some places by Christians. 

It is a matter of great lamentation that all the early lit- 
erature of these schools and colleges was destroyed by the 
ravages of those who overran and plundered Britain when 
the Eoman forces were withdrawn. It is a remarkable 
fact that the only writings of any native British author 
of this period that survive are those of St. Patrick, all of 
which are published in this book. And in one of these 
writings, that of the " Confession," he makes this apology 
for the style of his composition: "For I have not read 
like others, who, being taught in the best way, therefore 
rightly, both drank in the customary learning in a proper 
manner and have never changed their language from child- 



PATRICK AT ROME AGAIN. 109 

hood." And as tlie few authentic writings we possess, 
which evidently came from his hand, are saturated with 
the spirit of the gospel, are enriched with many quotations 
from both the Old and New Testaments, and are mani- 
festly the product of one who had read diligently his Bible 
and had imbibed its great fundamental truths under the 
guidance of the spirit of truth, we must conclude that 
whether he had any human teacher or whether he attended 
any institution of learning or not, he was taught of the 
Lord, and prepared by him for the great work Grod had 
designated him to accomplish. In Patrick's own account 
of his missionary work in Ireland he never alludes to hav- 
ing received a commission from the pope nor from any 
human being. If he did receive such a commission his 
silence upon the subject would seem to prove how little 
importance he attached to it. 

There is not, however, the shadow of a proof that he 
was ever at Eome, or that any pope commissioned him to 
proceed on a mission to Ireland ; nor is there any evidence 
whatever that he was licensed to preach by any human ^^ 
authority, or ordained by any man or body of men, or dele- 
gated by any creature. He seems to have been appointed 
to his work by God, without the of&cial sanction of man, 
as were Charles H. Spurgeon, Dwight L. Moody, and 
others. 

Prosper of Acquitaine, who was contemporary with 
Patrick, was familiar with the acts of the popes in his - 
day and sustained friendly relations with them, and regis- 
tered the mission of those who were sent out by them, 
makes no mention of Patrick. The reason was doubtless 



110 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK, 

this, that Patrick was not commissioned by the pope, that 
Patrick's churches in Ireland, like their brethren in Brit- 
ain, repudiated the authority of the popes ; all knowledge 
of the conversion of Ireland through Patrick's ministry 
was therefore for the time being suppressed as completely 
as the silence of the pope's registers could secure it. 

He certainly was not urged to undertake this mission 
at the instigation of his own relations or kindred, who, as 
he tells us, received him back from slavery as a son, but 
who besought him not to part from them again. His 
family, while probably greatly pleased with his Christian 
zeal, seems to have endeavored to dissuade him from go- 
ing on this Irish mission. His parents did not forget 
the privation and hardships which their son endured for 
six years, day and night, on the rugged sides and black 
summit of that Slemish mountain where snow and rain 
drenched his rags and pinching hunger beset him. They 
were alarmed for his safety amid the cruel pagans that 
swarmed everywhere in that land, and their hearts' yearn- 
ing over him led his parents to entreat him to stay with 
them. They offered him gifts and presented the most 
pressing appeals, but all proved unavailing, and Patrick 
may have said as Paul did, when his friends besought 
him on one occasion not to go up to Jerusalem, "What 
mean ye to weep and to break mine heart ? for I am ready 
not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the 
name of the Lord Jesus." Patrick himself confirms the 
doctrine that God, and no ecclesiastic of any name, called 
him to Ireland. Here are his own words in his " Confes- 
sion " : "I commend my soul to my most faithful God, for 



PATRICK AT HOME AGAIN. HI 

whom I discharge an embassage [in Ireland] in my ignoble 
condition, because, indeed, he does not accept the person, 
and he chose me to this office that I might be one of the 

least of his ministers." 

« 

Wide is the glorious field : 

Throughout the world go forth, 

The Spirit's sword to wield, 

To bear the Spirit's shield, 

Till every nation yield, 

And blessings crown the earth. 

Oh ! speed the rising rays 
Of the Sun of Righteousness ! 

So shall the glad earth raise 

A noble song of praise. 

Touched by the light which plays 
From a nobler world than this ! 

Early and late still sow 

The seed which God hath given. 

Seek not reward below ; 

The glorious flower shall blow 

Where cloudless summers glow, 
The harvest is in heaven. 



CHAPTER XV. 

PATRICK'S CALL TO MISSION WORK. 

Christ said to all liis church below, 

Thro' those who heard his wondrous claim, 

*^ Gro ye to every nation, go 
And make disciples in my name ; 

" Baptizing all who come to me 

Into the name of Father, Son, 
And Holy Spirit, one in three, 

And three in name, but essence One ; 

" And teach them all that ye have heard 

And seen in me from day to day ; 
And as ye bear abroad my word, 
Lo, I am with my own alway. 

" Altho' I go to take my throne 
As Head o'er all to rule and reign, 

Yet I will leave you not alone, 
But will return to you again." 

His own account of his call to mission work in Ireland 
is natural and lifelike. His heart had been given to G-od 
and to his work, and his thoughts were full of it by day, 
and his dreams were burdened with it by night. When 
he slept he saw Ireland in visions, and heard the voices of 
its youth calling upon him to hasten and help them. Here 
are his own words : "In the dead of night I saw a man 

112 



PATRICK'S CALL TO MISSION WORK. 113 

coming to me as if from Ireland, whose name was Victori- 
ous, bearing innumerable epistles, and he gave me one of 
them, and I read the beginning of it, which contained the 
words, ' The voice of the Irish ; ' and while repeating them, 
I imagined that I heard in my mind the voice of those 
who were near the wood of Foclut, which is near the 
western sea. Thus they cried, ^ We pray thee, holy youth, 
to come and henceforth walk among us.' I was pierced in 
heart and could read no more ; and so I awoke. Thanks 
be to God that after many years the Lord granted unto 
them the blessing for which they cried! Again, on an- 
other night — I know not, God knoweth, whether it was in 
me or near me — I heard distinctly .words which I could 
not understand except these at the close: ^ He who gave 
his life for thee is he who speaketh in thee.' And so I 
awoke rejoicing." 

In some of his dreams he was led to recall such texts of 
Scripture as these: "The Spirit helpeth our infirmities," 
"Christ, who maketh intercession for us." These were 
surely blessed effects of his dreams. All was quite in 
keeping with the feelings and resolutions of one who was 
enthusiastic and eager to tell the good news of salvation 
to a barbarous people. Neither did he relate his dreams 
for display, but to convince others that he did not assume 
the ministry of his own accord, that he was not sent to 
his work by man, but that he felt he was called of God. 
He understood that his call was supernatural, and that he 
interpreted his dreams as signs that he was commissioned 
by the Lord to preach the gospel in Ireland. The appeal 
in the vision, we must remember, came to him from those 



114 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

who were in the wood Foclut, in the neighborhood of 
Killala Bay, on the borders of the county Mayo, where he 
remained probably concealed from enemies while waiting 
for the boat to make his escape from slavery. He had his 
heart full of his Master's spirit and his ear opened to his 
Master's call, and he listened to the appeal as Paul did to 
that man of Macedonia who stood and cried, " Come over 
and help us." And as Paul did on another occasion so did 
Patrick : " He was not disobedient to the heavenly vision," 
but returned to Ireland, as God's messenger to the pagan 
inhabitants of that land. A crisis had arrived in his his- 
tory when he heard the voice of duty irresistibly calling 
him away from home and friends ; and Patrick never for 
a moment hesitated to prefer what was dutiful to what 
was agreeable when the two were in conflict. 

He was a man of simple, childlike faith, full of the 
primitive Christian spirit. His writings show him to be 
in an exceptional degree familiar with the sacred writings 
and imbued with their teaching. And as the Scripture 
speaks much of visions and dreams and of holy men of 
Grod having been much influenced thereby, so one cannot 
but be struck with the large place they had in Patrick's 
life, and with the determining effect which they had upon 
him at critical moments in his career. 

One word more upon these visions that Patrick had, 
and which he obeyed. It may be remembered that imme- 
diately after giving an account of that vision to Paul, the 
historian adds : " Immediately we endeavored to go into 
Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called 
us to preach the gospel unto them." We may not be 



PATBICK'S CALL TO MISSION WORK. \\^ 

warranted, and Patrick may not have been warranted, in 
placing quite on a level with that vision of Paul anything 
of a similar nature that may come to ourselves. But yet 
within certain limits we may speak of those beckonings 
toward future labors in life or achievements of character 
which may be given to us in God's ordinary providence, 
which become our ideals for the time, and after which we 
strive with all the earnestness and enthusiasm of our 
souls, as visions not unlike that which was given to Paul. 

In this lower sense many of us have had at some time 
or other our visions. Such may have been the dreams of 
our youth, which, like those of Joseph, may have exposed 
us at the time to the ridicule of those around us, but Y 
which, at a later date, kept us from despondency, nerved 
us for effort, and perhaps also prevented us from yielding 
to the lowest forms of temptations — which, at any rate, 
have allured us on until, in some degree at least, they have 
been fulfilled. Many illustrations might be given. One 
must suffice. 

Warren Hastings, at seven years of age, was lying, poor 
and orphaned, almost friendless, on the bank of a rivulet 
in England, looking wistfully on the lands of his ancestors, 
which had passed into the hands of strangers. On that 
sunny day there arose in his mind a scheme which through 
all the turns of his eventful career was never abandoned. 
It was, that he wduld recover the estate which belonged 
to his father. That was his vision. That purpose formed 
in infancy grew with his growth, strengthened with his 
strength, and matured with his maturity. When under a 
tropical sun he ruled, as governor-general of British India, 



116 THE STOBY OF ST. PATRICK. 

fifty millions of Asiatics, his hopes, amid all the cares of 
war, finance, and legislation, still pointed to his ancestral 
hall. And when his long public life closed (nearly eighty 
years after he had his boyish vision), it was at that 
^^ home," purchased a few years before, that he retired to 
die. 

We might multiply such illustrations, and as we medi- 
tate upon them we should remember that these visions 
come in the line of a person's own aspirations, and whose 
training and qualifications prepare him to receive these 
visions. And when the vision is accepted it holds the in- 
dividual to itself. The fulfilment of it becomes henceforth 
the one great object of his life, concerning which he says, 
" This one thing I do." 

Church of the Crucified, earth needs thy passion. 

Love agonizing the wayward to win 
Pure self -oblation in Christliest fashion, 

Soul-sweat and travail to save men from sin. 
Church of the Risen One, love that withholdeth 

Naught that it has Grod would give to thee now ; 
Else in the might that thy weakness enfoldeth. 

Bid the whole earth to the Crucified bow. 

H. Weight Hay. 



CHAPTER XYI. 

AN ESTIMATE OF PATRICK BEFOEE STARTING ON HIS MISSION. 

O Master, let me walk with thee 

In lowly paths of service free ; 
Tell me thy secret ; help me bear 

The strain of toil, the fret of care. 

Help me the slow of heart to move 
By some clear, winning word of love ; 

Teach me the wayward feet to stay, 
And guide them in the homeward way. 

Let ns look for a moment at Patrick before he starts 
for the field of his labors in Ireland. We do not know 
his precise age, but he was doubtless in the fulness of his 
manhood, with a fine presence and good health, with a 
tongue that could gain the Irish ear and a soul that could 
win the Irish heart. He was not educated even up to the 
standard of that day, a fact which he more than once 
deplores, as he makes his defense for setting out as a 
missionary of the cross and a preacher of the gospel of 
Jesus Christ. 

His writings attest the truthfulness of his apologetic 
confession, for they are often rude and broken utterances, 
ungrammatical in construction and obscure in statement. 
Yet these same writings reveal a strong and rugged per- 
sonality, in presence of which even princes and kings were 

117 



llg THE STOEY OF ST. PATRICK. 

subdued and awed when he stood before them as Grod's 
ambassador, and proclaimed the gloriou.s gospel of the 
blessed God. Moreover he had a decision of character, an 
intrepidity and magnanimity of spirit always distinctive 
of great men — traits that gave Patrick a place beside 
Elijah and Paul. These traits of character were, more- 
over, set on fire by an intense ardor that no difficulties or 
discouragements could cool, and were sustained by an 
indomitable courage, that, without flinching, could look 
danger and death in the face. 

Besides, his heart throbbed with a tremulous sympathy, 
and yearned with genuine compassion for the objects of 
his mission. Over and above all, his whole nature was 
•chastened by a deep humility in the presence of the thrice 
lioly God, and his whole life was pervaded in a remark- 
.able degree by an unquenchable spirit of prayer and by 
•an unbounded trust in God. It is furthermore worthy of 
remark that during the six years of his captivity in Ire- 
land his soul seems to have greatly compassionated the 
people, whom he saw were wholly given up to heathenism, 
and this brought him to resolve to seek their conversion 
— a resolution that was vitalized and strengthened by the 
Holy Spirit working upon his heart through the visions 
and voices with which he was favored. For this work he 
was in various ways specially qualified ; and one of these 
qualifications was his perfect knowledge of the Irish lan- 
guage, which he acquired through the wonderful provi- 
dence of God permitting him to be taken captive and to 
be held in captivity for six years during his maturing 
years — a period sufficiently long for him to become well 



AN ESTIMATE OF PATRICK. 119 

acquainted with the language, manners, and dispositions of 
the people to whom he was intended as a future apostle. 

O Irishmen ! we call him saint, 
And name his name with pride, 

Then, let us follow in his steps, 
And walk where he would guide. 

Let us, too, rise with purpose high, 
In Christ's own strength, and flee 

To home and freedom from the curse 
Of sin's sad slavery ; 



And then, like him, return to bless 

The land we trod as slaves ; 
And lay our bones, at last, to re§t 

In honored, well-loved graves. 

a. E. BuicK. 



V^ 



But what Patrick values and emphasizes most is the 
fact which he asserts, and to which he refers again and 
again, that he received his call from a higher than any 
earthly source — that his mission was from Grod ; and he 
seems always to take pleasure in relating the circum- 
stances in which the divine voice spake to him, and in 
adding: "I testify in truth and in joy of heart, before 
God and his holy angels, that I never had any reason . 
except the gospel and its promises for ever returning to 
that people from whom I had formerly escaped with diffi- 
culty." And when "the voice of the Irish" summoned 
him back, he obeyed what he believed to be a divine call ; 
and with an unreserved consecration he gave himself to 
the land which, in the person of some of its sons, had so 
grievously wronged' him. 



120 THE STOBY OF ST. PATRICK. 

In point of prayerfulness, self-denial, consecration, abun- 
dance of labors, love to Christ and to the souls of men, 
combined with marvelous success, Patrick has had but 
few equals in the entire annals of the Christian church. 
For the national conversion of Ireland to the Christian 
faith was wholly attributable, under Grod, to his indifatega- 
ble labors. He gave himself to her. Ireland became his 
adopted country. For her he lived, prayed, labored, died, 
and in her he found his grave, and the soil of Ireland holds 
to-day the dust of no saintlier hero. 

I teach what Christ has taught me. 

The wisdom from above ; 
The news from heaven he brought me, 

That God himself is love ; 
And that in every nation 

He waits that soul to bless 
Who seeks from sin salvation, 

And worketh righteousness. 

How Jesus, God anointed. 

With his own mighty power, 
To meet the time appointed. 

And bring us mercy's hour ; 
Endowed with grace of healing. 

How fair earth's walks he trod ; 
At length, in death, revealing 

Himself the Son of God. 

And this is my commission : 

That all who trust his name, 
Of sin shall have remission — 

For this is why he came. 
Not for our condemnation — 

For that, alas ! we have — 
To bring, instead, salvation, 

And triumph o'er the grave. 

J. E. Rankin. 



CHAPTEE XVII. 

PATKICK STARTING ON HIS MISSION TO IRELAND. 

I traveM once a rocky road, 

A weary road it was to go, 
With burdens, too, a heavy load, 

And where it led I did not know. 

A weary road, with rivers high. 

Wild beasts were standing on the rocks ; 

And clouds came drifting through the sky, 
FilM deep with fires and thunder-shocks. 

But through the floods and through the flame, 
And foaming floods, as on I went, 

A voice of hope and cheering came, 
" Fear not to go where God hath sentP 

That voice is ringing in my ears ; 

Let mountains rise and oceans flow, 
It matters not. Away with fears, 

If God hath sent me, let me go. 

J. C. Upham. 

We have seen the spirit with which Patrick appears to 
have set out on his great mission to Ireland, and now let 
us trace with as much detail as possible his missionary 
tours. 

It is generally conceded that he landed first on the coast 
of Wicklow, in the southeast of Ireland, at the mouth of 
the river Vartry. Though his stay here was brief, it is 

121 



122 THE STOBY OF ST. PATRICK. 

recorded that the gospel he preached resulted in the con- 
version of Sinell, a great man of that place, and the eighth 
in lineal descent from Cormac, king of Leinster. He sailed 
northward around the coast, and touched at an island off 
the Skerries, now called, after him, Holmpatrick, which is 
about twelve miles from Dublin. Sailing still northward, 
he called for a short time at the mouth of the river Boyne 
near Drogheda ; pressing still northward, he made his way 
past Carlingford Bay, and entering Strangford Lough, he 
landed in the barony of Lecale, at the mouth of a small 
river called Slany, which falls into the north end of the 
bay of Dundrum and about two miles from the place now 
known as Saul. 

The Lough of Strangford, formerly called Lough Coyne, 
is seventeen miles in length from Killard Point to New- 
town- Ardes, and in some places five miles in breadth. It 
contains four or five islands, some of them upward of one 
hundred acres in extent, and in general well cultivated. 
Some of the land in the county of the Ardes cannot be 
excelled in Ireland. Once entered, its harbor is deep and 
safe, but owing to the great rapidity of the tide and the 
rocks near its entrance it is not safe for vessels to attempt 
without a pilot. There are two passages to it, divided by 
a reef half a mile long, called Eock Angus, on the south 
side of which there are fifteen feet of water, and it is the 
only channel navigable for merchant-vessels. 

Here Patrick and his companions were brought into the 
presence of a chief called Dicliu, a descendant of an an- 
cient Irish king, who, taking them for pirates, came out, 
armed against them. But Dichu soon discovered his mis- 



PATRICK STAB TING ON HIS MISSION TO IRELAND. 123 

take, listened while Patrick preached the gospel of Jesus 
Christ, and the old chief with his whole family became 
Christians and were baptized. 

Dichu gave Patrick a barn to be used as a temporary 
church, and gave him ground on which to build a church, 
which, at Dichu's request, was not to be located from west 
to east, but from north to south, and became known as 
Saul-Patrick, or Patrick's barn ; and the place is known as 
Saul to this day. It is the place where Patrick died, half 
a century or more afterward, and is about two miles from 
Downpatrick. 

Several readers of this story who are not familiar with 
the localities mentioned may be interested in a brief 
description of a few of them as we come to them in this 
narrative. 

Downpatrick is situated near the mouth of the river 
Quoyle, which flows into the southwest extremity of 
Strangford Lough about twenty miles southeast of Bel- 
fast. The town lies in a valley formed by hills of some 
elevation, and consists of four main streets meeting in the 
center. It has an Episcopal cathedral, a Eoman Catholic 
church, two Methodist churches, and two Presbyterian 
churches. In the vicinity are the ruins of Saul Abbey, said 
to have been founded by St. Patrick, and also a number 
of monastic ruins. A legend has it that the cathedral 
contains the remains of St. Patrick, with those of St. 
Columba and St. Bridget. To the northwest of Down- 
patrick are the remains of a great earthwork, two thirds 
of a mile in circuit, inclosing a conical fort 60 feet high 
and 2100 feet in circumference. It is pretty certain that 



V 



124 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

at this place was founded the first church established by 
St. Patrick. 

From Lecale, which was an island or peninsula in that 
locality, Patrick soon passed northward by land to the 
scene of his early captivity near Broughshane ; but his old 
master, Milchu, having heard of the great success of Pat- 
rick's preaching, and fearing perhaps that he would be 
overcome by some magical influence emanating from his 
former herd-boy, set fire to his house, according to the 
story, and perished in the ruins. 

We suppose many of the readers of this story have 
known persons who resolutely kept away from church 
and from all intercourse with the preachers of Grod's 
Word, lest they might in some way be brought under the 
influence of saving truth, and be led in penitence and 
faith to the feet of Jesus. Resolute perseverance in such 
a course always ends in ruin. 

But Patrick's visit to that neighborhood was far from 
fruitless. Milchu's son, Guasacht, was converted, became 
a preacher of the gospel and the pastor of a church at 
Grranard. Two daughters of Milchu also became converts 
to the Christian faith, and devoted themselves to G-od's 
service. A grandson of Milchu, son of a third daughter, 
a young man called Mohay or Mohee, embraced Christian- 
ity, became a preacher of the gospel, established a church 
and monastery on Mahee Island in Strangford Lough, 
where there are to be seen to this day the remains of a 
round tower and the foundations of an old church. 

Patrick did not remain long at this scene of his old 



PATRICK STARTING OX HIS MISSION TO IRELAND. 125 

captivity, but returned to the district of Downpatrick and 
continued there for many days, preaching and spreading 
the faith. 

The king of Ulster at this time was Eochy, whose son, 
Domhanghert, or Donart, became a disciple of Patrick 
and a preacher of the Word, founded two churches, one 
at Maghera near Newcastle in County Down, not far from 
the mount called Slieve Donard, and another on the sum- 
mit of the mount. The conversion of these persons occu- 
pying prominent positions in society furnishes the key to 
the methods Patrick pursued in his work. 

With the instinct of a statesman or great general, the 
policy of Patrick all through life was in the first instance 
to approach the kings and chiefs and endeavor to win 
them over, being confident that as a result of the tribal 
constitution, if they could be secured the gain of their 
followers would be easy ; but if they were hostile, an insu- 
perable barrier would be put in the way of his missionary 
operations. 

It is sometimes made a reproach against the early Irish 
church that it had no martyrs. The assumption is not 
true. Patrick's own life was repeatedly threatened, and 
in one of these attacks the driver of his carriage was slain 
in mistake for himself. 

But Patrick was not deterred from pursuing his journey 
or his work by any dangers through which he was obliged 
to pass. He therefore continued his course southward by 
sea and came to a little port now called Colp, where he 
landed and left his vessel in charge of Lomman, one of his 



126 THE STOBY OF ST. PATBICK. 

companions, while he went away for a few days to travel 
inland and preach the gospel. During Patrick's absence 
it is reported that Lomman was reading the gospel aloud, 
when Fortchern, son of Fedilmid, admiring the gospel 
and its teaching, forthwith believed; and a well being 
open, he was baptized in that place by Lomman. Fort- 
chern remained with him until his mother came in search 
of him, and she was rejoiced to see him, for she was a 
Britoness. She also believed and returned again to her 
house and told her husband everything that had happened 
to her and to her son, and Fedilmid rejoiced in the coming 
of the clergyman because his mother was British, the 
daughter of Scotch Noe, the king of the Britons. Then 
Fedilmid greeted Lomman in the British tongue, asking 
about his faith, rank, and kindred. And he answered, " I 
am Lomman, a Briton, a Christian, a disciple of Bishop 
Patrick, who was sent by the Lord to baptize the people 
of Ireland, and turn them to the faith of Christ, who sent 
me here according to the will of God." And immediately 
Fedilmid believed with his whole family, and he made an 
offering to him and to St. Patrick, of his lands, his posses- 
sions, and his substance, with all his rights as a chieftain 
over his followers. 

On his journey inland Patrick lodged at a house in 
Meath, where he was kindly received and entertained ; and 
embracing every opportunity wherever he went to preach 
the gospel, he proclaimed Christ to this family, and the 
father believed and was baptized with his whole family. 
A little son, of a sweet and gentle disposition, became a 
great favorite with Patrick, who named him Benignus, 



PATRICK STABTING ON HIS MISSION TO IRELAND. 127 

which in Irish means sweet, because of the qualities he 
observed in this young Christian, who afterward became 
a famous poet and preacher. 

A traveler through a dusty road strewed acorns on the lea, 
And one took root and sprouted up and grew into a tree. 
Love sought its shade at evening time, to breathe its early 

vows; 
And age was pleased in heats of noon to bask beneath its. 

boughs ; 
The dormouse loved its dangling twigs, the birds sweet 

music bore ; 
It stood a glory in its place, a blessing evermore. 

A nameless man, amid a crowd that thronged the daily 

mart, 
Let fall a word of hope and love, unstudied, from the 

heart ; 
A whisper on the tumult thrown-^a transitory breath — 
It raised a brother from the dust, it saved a soul from 

death. 
O germ ! fount ! word of life ! O thought at random 

cast! 
Ye were but little at the first, but mighty at the last. 

Chables Mackay, LL.D. 



CHAPTER XYIII. 

PATRICK'S VISIT TO TAEA. 

His was the searching thought, the glowing mind ; 
The gentle will to others soon resigned ; 
But, more than all, the feeling just and kind. 

True to his kind, nor himself afraid. 

He deemed that love of Grod was best arrayed 

In love of all the things that God has made. 

His thoughts were as a pyramid up-piled, 
On whose far top an angel stood and smiled ; 
Yet in his heart he was a simple child. 

To whatever extent Christianity may have obtained a 
foothold in Ireland before this time, the best authorities 
concede that its condition was very unprosperous among 
the mass of the population, and that it had not secured 
either the acceptance or the patronage of the kings and 
pagan priests. The Christian men who endeavored to 
implant the Christian faith had spent their lives in an 
almost fruitless struggle against the ferocious hostility of 
the pagan priests, who encompassed the missionaries of 
the cross with obstacles and dangers, which rendered 
their best efforts almost unproductive of good results; 
besides, Palladius, the immediate predecessor of St. Pat- 



PATRICK'S VISIT TO TAB A. 129 

rick, was ignorant of the Irish language, was devoid of 
the requisite courage, and propagated a faith so tainted 
with error that it could not reasonably be expected that 
he should long continue to oppose the increasing enmity 
of a people naturally fierce in defense of their faith or 
superstition ; and so he retired in terror and despair from 
the strife. 

The Druids, who had well-nigh monopolized before Pat- 
rick's time the religion of the country, were exasperated 
against Patrick. In consequence of their bitter opposition 
he was compelled to travel with an escort, to surround 
the churches and places of learning built by him with 
ramparts or forts for self-defense. 

If he had not as a rule secured the countenance and 
protection of the king or chief, his life would have been 
continually imperiled, and his success almost hopeless. 

Acting on this plan, this astute missionary now deter- 
mined to visit Tara, the seat of the chief king of Ireland, 
and try to effect the conversion of King Laoghaire and his 
court. He determined to make his journey from Down- 
patrick' onward by water. Sailing to the mouth of the 
Boyne River, he left his boats thei-e and went with his 
little company a day's journey to the Hill of Slane, where 
by way of celebrating Easter — for it is said to have been 
Easter-eve — he kindled the Easter fire. King Laoghaire 
and his Druids were at this time celebrating a great 
heathen festival, part of the ceremonial of which was the 
lighting of a fire at Tara. 

There was a stringent Druid law, as we have seen, that 
while the sacred fire was burning no other should be 



130 T^-^ STOBY OF ST. PATRICE. 

lighted by the people on pain of death. The king, there- 
fore, on seeing the fire on the Hill of Slane, easily visible 
at Tara, though nine miles distant, was much incensed, 
and with horses and chariots he set out to punish the im- 
pious transgressor of the sacred law. Other writers assert 
that a pagan magician, when he looked on the fire, said to 
the king : " Unless yonder fire be this night extinguished, 
he who lighted it will, together with his followers, reign 
over the whole island." Whereupon the king, gathering 
together a multitude, hastened with them in his wrath to 
extinguish the fire. He proceeded to Slane with twenty- 
seven chariots, hoping with that number to obtain a com- 
plete triumph. Acting on the advice of his magicians, he 
turned the face of his men and horses toward the left hand 
of St. Patrick, trusting that by doing so his purpose could 
not be thwarted. But Patrick, on beholding the multitude 
of chariots, repeated the verse of King David's psalm: 
" Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will 
invoke the name of the Lord." On approaching the place 
where St. Patrick was, his magicians advised the monarch 
not to go farther, lest by going in Patrick's presence the king 
should seem to honor him. The king therefore remained 
where he was, and forbade any one to stand up before 
Patrick when he arrived. 

On reaching Slane, Patrick was summoned to the king's 
presence and commanded to appear next day and give an 
account of his proceeding. It was on this occasion that 
Patrick is said to have composed his famous hymn, as an 
armor or breastplate to protect him from his foes. The 
hymn is written in a very ancient dialect of Irish, and 



FATBICK'S VISIT TO TARA. 131 

both internal and external evidence connects it with the 
age of Patrick. Its doctrine and spirit are in perfect har- 
mony with his acknowledged writings. It is printed in 
full toward the close of this story. 

There is doubtless much that is legendary in the details 
of the recital of this visit to Tara as they are set forth in 
many of the Lives of Patrick, but there is no reason to 
doubt the substance of the narrative. 

The next day after the demand was made by the king 
upon Patrick, he, with his companions, presented them- 
selves before the king and his assembled courtiers, priests, 
and bards. Dubbthack, or Duifa, the chief bard, rose and 
welcomed them. 

Patrick expounded and enforced at length the doctrines 
of Christianity. Dubbthack and many others were con- 
verted. The king professed to acquiesce, but his conver- 
sion was only nominal. He permitted Patrick, however, 
to preach the gospel everywhere throughout Ireland, and 
he was not slow to avail himself of the privilege. 

Christian courage, as described in the following lines^ 
was weU illustrated by Patrick at Tara : 

Stand but your ground, your ghostly foes will fly ; 

Hell trembles at a heaven-directed eye ; 

Choose rather to defend than to assail — 

Self-confidence will in the conflict fail. 

When you are challenged, you may dangers meet — 

True courage is a fixed not sudden heat, 

Is always humble, lives in self-distrust. 

And will itself into no danger thrust. 

Devote yourself to God, and you will find 

God fights the battles of a will resigned. 

Love Jesus ! love will no base fear endure; 

Love Jesus ! and of conquest rest secure. Ken. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

DESCRIPTION OF TAEA. 

There was a feast that night, 
And colored lamps sent forth their odorous light 
Over gold carving, and the purple fell 
Of tapestry ; and around each stately hall 
Were statues pale, and delicate and fair, 
As all of beauty, save her blush, were there. 

At first the pillared halls were still and lone. 

As if some fairy palace, all unknown 

To mortal eye or step. This was not long. 

Wakened the lutes, and rose the sound of song ; 

And the wide mirrors glittered with the crowd 

Of changing shapes — the young, the fair, the proud, 

Came thronging in. 

Landor. 

Before we accompany Patrick farther it may be inter- 
esting to pause for a few minutes and learn something 
about Tara and Tara's Hall. 

Tara is about twenty-five miles from Dublin, in County 
Meath, Ireland, and was the site of Tara's Hall, which was 
the residence of the chief king of Ireland from the third 
till the seventh century. The banqueting-hall of the 
palace is said to have been 759 feet in length and 90 feet 
in width and to have had fourteen entrances. With one 

132 



DESCRIPTION OF TABA. 133 

exception the buildings were constructed of wood and clay 
— but were overlaid with earth so pure and splendid that 
it resembled painting. 

Two magnificent neck-chains of gold were found at Tara 
in 1810 and are now in the Museum of the Royal Irish 
Academy, Dublin. They are spiral in form ; one weighs 
twenty-eight ounces and is seven feet seven inches long; 
the other is of equal length, is of more delicate construc- 
tion, and weighs twelve and a half ounces. 

Under the supremacy of Brian Boru, one of his subor- 
dinate chiefs or provincial kings held the title of king of 
Tara. The Tara estate in the thirteenth century belonged 
to a family of Norman descent — the Renpenthenyes. In 
the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the then Lord of Cabra and 
Tara, Richard Renpenthenye, was arraigned on the charge 
of uttering treasonable expressions against the queen, and 
though an old man of seventy, he was condemned and 
executed. However, about twenty years later, his de- 
scendant, Edward de Repenthenye, was restored to the 
estates by James I. In the civil wars several members of 
the family were killed, and when Cromwell extended his 
rule over Ireknd the estates of Francis de Pentheny were 
again alienated. The lands of Cabra and Tara were sur- 
veyed in 1657 with the rest of the forfeited possessions in 
Ireland, and after the restoration of Charles II. were, by 
letters patent, under the act of settlement, bearing date 
February 5, 1669, granted to James, Duke of York, the 
king's brother, afterward James II. From him they 
passed to Lord Tyrconnell, who also forfeited them. In 
1702 they were purchased by a company that had been 



134 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

formed for making sword-blades in England, who soon 
after disposed of their interest to Thomas Meredith of 
Dublin, and thus disappeared the ancient estates of the 
Lord of Tara. But in the latter part of the century a por- 
tion of the estate was regained by the family of Pentheny 
O'Kelly, who were legitimate descendants of the ancient 
family. 

Near the ruins of Tara's Hall a battle was fought, May 
26, 1798, in which the English forces worsted the Irish. 
On the same spot Daniel O'Connell held a mass meeting 
in favor of repeal of the Act of Union between Great 
Britain and Ireland, August 15, 1843, and it is said two 
hundred and fifty thousand people were present. 

The ancient character of this ruined hall and its connec- 
tion with the early glories of Ireland give it a romantic 
interest which is touchingly expressed in Moore's poem : 

The harp that once through Tara's halls 

The soul of music shed, 
Now hangs as mute on Tara's walls 

As if that soul were fled. 
So sleeps the pride of former days, 

So glory's thrill is o'er. 
And hearts that once beat high for praise 

Now feel that pulse no more. 

No more to chiefs and ladies bright 

The harp of Tara swells ; 
The chord alone that breaks at night, 

Its tale of ruin tells. 
Thus Freedom now so seldom wakes ; 

The only throb she gives 
Is when some heart, indignant, breaks. 

To show that still she lives. 



CHAPTER XX. 

patkick's mission work in the west and south. 

The proud he tam'd, the penitent he cheer'd, 

Nor to rebuke the rich offender fear'd. 

His preaching much, but more his practice wrought — 

A hving sermon of the truths he taught. 

For this, by rules severe his Hf e he squar'd, 

That all might see the doctrine which they heard. 

Deyden. 

Pateick proceeded next to Tailltown or Telltown. Tell- 
town is a mountain in Meath where annual sports were 
celebrated fifteen days before and fifteen days after the 
1st of August. Their institution is ascribed to Lugaidh- 
lam-fadah, the twelfth king of Ireland, in gratitude to the 
memory of Tailto, the daughter of a prince in Spain, who 
married a king of Ireland and took Lugaidh under her 
protection during his minority and gave him an educa- 
tion. From this lady the sports themselves and the place 
where they were celebrated took their names. The 1st of 
August was called Lugnasa, formed from two words signi- 
fying in memory of Lugaidh. It is now called Lammas; 
the ancient name, however, was Loafmas, or the feast of 
the loaf, from the custom of offering a loaf of new wheat 
on the 1st of August, as an oblation of the first-fruits. 
These sports observed at Telltown were a sort of warlike 

135 



136 THE STOBY OF ST. PATRICK. 

exercises, somewhat resembling the Olympic games, con- 
sisting of racing, tilts, tournaments, and similar exercises. 

At these annual games an immense number of people 
usually assembled, and the occasion, therefore, afforded 
Patrick a good opportunity of preaching the gospel to the 
masses. Caibre and Cormall, two brothers of King Lao- 
ghaire, were present. The former obstinately refused to 
accept the gospel preached by Patrick and treated him 
with great incivility, but Cormall joyously believed, was 
baptized, and granted a site for a church. This new con- 
vert was the grandfather of the famous Columbille. 

Patrick spent several months in Meath and the counties 
around, preaching with great zeal, traveling almost daily, 
and great numbers of people were converted to the Chris- 
tian faith. 

It was on the occasion of his preaching at one of these 
places that the interesting incident respecting the sham- 
rock occurred, which shows the readiness with which 
Patrick could seize upon some simple object to illustrate 
his subject. It is well known that the shamrock is a 
variety of the white clover, the trifolium replens of botan-^ 
ists, known also as the trefoil, or three-leaved clover. It is 
said that when Patrick was trying to explain the doctrine 
of the Trinity the audience was sorely puzzled at his state- 
ments. "How," said one of their chiefs, "can there be 
three in one I " Patrick in reply picked up a leaf of trefoil 
from the ground and held it up before them. " Behold," 
he said, " three and yet one. Behold in this trefoliate leaf 
how the three persons in the Godhead can exist and yet 
be one." The illustration was so beautiful and so forcible 



PATRICK'S MISSION WORK IN THE WEST AND SOUTH. I37 

that the chief immediately accepted the Christian faith 
and was baptized, and his clan followed his example, as 
was the fashion of those days. From this legend it is \ 
thought came the adoption of the shamrock leaf in later / 
years as the national emblem. 

It may also be remarked that among the uneducated 
classes in Ireland any strange or unusual formation in 
plant or flower is regarded with more or less superstition. 
A double nut, an unusually large or oddly shaped fruit of 
any kind, a leaf of peculiar formation — these things are 
always plucked when found and kept for " luck." But the 
superstitious reverence with which the four-leaved clover 
has been regarded for so long a time, that " the memory of 
man runneth not back to the contrary," has a very simple 
explanation. Its resemblance to the form of a cross is 
unquestionably the cause of its endowment in the estima- 
tion of the people with magic virtues, and especially with 
the virtue of detecting the presence of evil spirits, and nul- 
lifying their power to inflict injury. 

The legend respecting the influence of the four-leaved 
shamrock which is prevalent in Ireland is also beautifully 
told by Samuel Lover in the following verses, that deserve 
a place in the story of Ireland's patron saint : 

I'll seek a four-leaved shamrock 

In all the fairy dells ; 
And if I find the charmed leaf, 

Oh, how I'll weave my spells ! 
I would not waste my magic might 

On diamond, pear], or gold. 
For treasure tires the weary sense — 

Such triumph is but cold; 



138 THE STOBY OF ST. PATRICK. 

But I will play the enchanter's part 

In casting bliss around ; 
Oh, not a tear or aching heart 

Should in the world be found ! 

To worth I would give honor ; 

Pd dry the mourner's tears ; 
And to the pallid lip recall 

The smile of happier years ; 
And hearts that had been long estranged, 

And friends that had grown cold 
Should meet again like parted streams, 

And mingle as of old. 
Oh, then I'd play the enchanter's part 

In casting bliss around ! 
Oh, not a tear or aching heart 

Should in the world be found ! 

The heart that had been mourning 

O'er banished dreams of love. 
Should see them all returning. 

Like Noah's faithful dove. 
And Hope should launch her blessed bark 

On Sorrow's darkening sea, 
And Misery's children have an ark, 

And saved from sinking be. 
Oh, thus I'd play the enchanter's part 

In casting bliss around ! 
Oh, not a tear or aching heart 

Should in the world be found ! 

Samuel Lover. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

PATRICK'S VISIT TO CONNAUGHT, ETC. 

His path he strewed 
With gentle kindnesses and words of grace. 
With all degrees of men his open face 
Won high regard or earnest gratitude. 
With sturdy honesty and truth endued, 
His soul was written on his countenance, 
And all might read him at a casual glance, 
As on a world-wide pedestal he stood. 
By unclean pelf his hand and heart unstained. 
Strong for the right, and turning not aside 
Whene'er the public weal was in debate. 
He justified the honor he had gained. 
If specks in marble envious eyes espied, 
His faith in God was his sure armor-plate. 

Our missionary next repaired to Conn aught, where he 
spent seven years preaching, founding churches and 
schools of learning, and sending forth preachers. 

It was there, in the vicinity of the royal palace of Cro- 
ghan, that he had the famous reputed interview with the 
two daughters of King Laoghaire, Ethna the Fair and 
Fedelma the Euddy. They had been sent there, it is said, 
to be educated by two Druids named Mael and Caplait. 
The account given in some of the Lives of Patrick of the 
interview between Patrick and these pagan princesses is 
generally accepted as substantially true ; and the incident 

139 



140 THE STOBY OF ST. PATRICK. 

is one of the most picturesque and striking in the history 
of Patrick. The simple questions put by them, and Pat- 
rick's answers touching the leading truths of the Christian 
faith, are natural and lifelike, but evidently tinged with 
the superstitions and errors that crept into the church at 
a later date. The conference ended in the conversion and 
baptism of the princesses and also of their tutors, and on 
the part of the princesses the dedication of themselves to 
a religious life, although the account closes with a descrip- 
tion of a death scene. The whole account is given in the 
doubtful writings of Patrick near the close of this book. 

The great truth doubtless to which Patrick directed the 
attention of these young pagan princesses was the atoning 
death of Grod's own Son, which is symbolized by bread 
and wine in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, of which 
elements it is the duty and privilege of all believers in 
Jesus to partake while they thankfully remember Jesus 
as their Prophet, Priest, and King, feast their souls upon 
the precious truths embodied in Jesus and his saving 
work, thus gaining the nourishment which their souls 
need. Each believer in him can adopt the truth conveyed 
in the words of this hymn : 

When time seems short, and death is near, 

And I am pressed by doubt and fear. 

And sins, an overflowing tide. 

Assail my peace on every side, 

This thought my refuge still shall be — 

I know my Saviour died for me. 

His name is Jesus, and he died. 
For guilty sinners crucified ; 
Content to die that he might win 



PATRICK'S VISIT TO COKNAUGHT, ETC. 14^ 

Their ransom from the death of sin ; 
No sinner worse than I can be ; 
Therefore I know he died for me. 

If grace were bought, I could not buy ; 
If grace were coined, no wealth have I ; 
By grace alone I draw my breath, 
Held up from everlasting death ; 
Yet since I know his grace is free, 
I know the Saviour died for me. 

I read Grod's Holy Word, and find 

Great truths which far transcend my mind ; 

And little do I know or see ; 

Than this, that Jesus died for me. 

This is my best theology — 

I know the Saviour died for me. 

My faith is weak, but 'tis thy gift ; 
Thou canst my helpless soul uplift. 
And say, " Thy bonds of death are riven. 
Thy sins by me are all forgiven. 
And thou shalt live, from guilt set free, 
For I, thy Saviour, died for thee." 

De. George W. Bethune. 



After this interview Patrick went to a mountain now 
called Croagh-Patrick, on the western coast of Connaught, 
and is said to have gathered there the several tribes of 
serpents and venomous creatures, and to have driven 
them headlong, by the beating of a drum, into the western 
ocean, and no poisonous reptile has been seen in Ireland 
since. This is the legend that is so intimately connected 
with St. Patrick's name. There is quite an uncertainty as 
to the cause of the absence of any snakes, etc., in Ireland. 
Some think that the prevalent growth of the shamrock in 



r 



142 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

Ireland is the cause there of the absence of snakes. Phny, 
in his "Natural History," says that serpents are never 
seen on trefoil, and that the leaves of the plant will cure 
the stings of common reptiles. Other naturalists have 
asserted that serpents and trefoil are never found together. 
We are not aware that the matter has ever been scientifi- 
cally tested. Scientists affirm that there is no evidence 
showing that snakes have at any time existed upon the 
Irish Isle. There are very few snakes of any species in 
Great Britain. The character of the country may have 
something to do with it ; but it is probably largely due to 
the fact that being islands, but few of the species reached 
them. It should be known in order to counteract the 
foolish legend about St. Patrick's banishing all poisonous 
reptiles from Ireland, that Solinus, who wrote several 
hundred years before the arrival of St. Patrick in Ireland, 
notices Ireland's exemption from reptiles. 

Our readers must not forget that St. Patrick's fame has 
come down to us through the medium of vast exagger- 
ations, and that he was not quite so remarkable a person 
as legends have described and fond nationality believed. 
Instead of the wonder-worker crowned with shamrock 
and marching to the national air to subdue legions of 
vipers, the earliest documents extant concerning him de- 
scribe a missionary teacher, simple, faithful, and zealous, 
exhibiting the clearest evidence of one thoroughly in- 
structed in Grod's Word, and supported by the grace of 
his Master. As the purest stream always flows nearest 
the fountain, so, of the many writers of the life of Patrick, 
those who lived nearest to his time have had the great- 



PATRICK'S VISIT TO CONNAUGHT, ETC. 143 

est regard for truth, and have been the most sparing in 
recounting miracles, while in Patrick's own writings there 
is not the remotest hint that he ever wrought a miracle, 
or ever claimed that he possessed the power to work one. 
The most material events of his life were first written by 
Fiecc, who is said to have been a contemporary of Patrick ; 
and these were comprehended in a hymn in the Irish lan- 
guage, of thirty-four stanzas, in which there is no allusion 
whatever to miracles : but as the writers of his life in- 
creased, so his miracles were multiplied, especially in the 
dark ages, until they at last exceeded all bounds of credulity. 
An ancient writer near Florence, Italy, long before Pat- 
rick's day, in describing Ireland has these lines : 

Far westward lies an isle of ancient fame, 

By nature bless'd, and Scotia * is her name. 

Enrolled in books, exhaustless in her store 

Of veiny silver and of golden ore. 

Her fruitful soil forever teems with wealth ; 

With gems her waters, and her air with health ; 

Her verdant fields with milk and honey flow, 

Her woolly fleeces vie with virgin snow ; 

Her waving furrows float with bearded corn 

And arms and arts her envy'd sons adorn. 

No savage bear with lawless fury roves. 

No rav'nous lion through the peaceful groves ; 

No poison there infests ; no scaly snake 

Creeps through the grass, nor frog annoys the lake. 

An island worthy of her pious race. 

In war triumphant and unmatched in peace. 

But after this short digression, which may be regarded 
in the nature of a diversion, we must return to Patrick's 
main work. '* 

* Ireland was called Scotia when these lines were written, and for many 
centuries afterward. 



CHAPTEE XXII. 

PATRICK'S VISIT TO THE NORTHWEST. 

And such a voice, and such a theme ; 
He lay enchanted till the light 
Dispelled the vision of the night, 

And he awoke with awe supreme ; 

So near the gate of heaven, thought he, 
With floods of glory like a sea — 
Majestic in his dream. 

Having moved northward, Patrick came, after much 
preaching by the way, into the region wherein was the 
wood Foclut, from which he heard voices in the vision 
that determined him to come as a missionary to Ireland. 
This was to Patrick a most interesting place — the place at 
which he took ship escaping from slavery — the place of 
his holy vision afterward. In this place, when he arrived, 
he found all the nobles and people of that province assem- 
bled in council, disputing about a successor to the throne 
made vacant by the death of the king, Amalgaid. His 
seven sons were present, and great excitement prevailed. 
Patrick, like another Paul, preached the Word of God with 
great boldness to all ; the Spirit of God accompanied his 
words, multitudes believed and turned unto the Lord, 
among whom were the seven sons of Amalgaid, and twelve 
thousand others, all of whom Patrick baptized in one day. 

144 



PATRICK'S VISIT TO THE NORTHWEST. 145 

Here also a clmrcli was planted, and Mancenns, a devout 
man skilled in the Scriptures, was placed in charge. These 
brief records indicate the vast numbers of converts there 
must have been from paganism to Christianity when so 
many thousands of men, women, and children followed the 
example of their chiefs and were baptized. 

Patrick is reported to have remained seven years in 
the province of Connaught preaching, baptizing, planting 
churches, and placing them in charge of men who could 
speak to them the word of life and train them in the ways v 
of the Lord. It is reckoned that forty-seven churches 
were during these years planted in this province and were 
committed to the oversight and pastoral care of as many 
primitive bishops. 

After preaching in Cashel and establishing a church 
there and giving it a pastor, Patrick still pursued a north- 
ward course, visiting principally the towns upon and near 
the sea-coast. Among these were Sligo, Drumcliffe, Ross 
Clogher, Droos Ashrol, etc., tarrying for some days or 
weeks at each of these places and founding a church wher- 
ever the circumstances seemed to warrant it. Thus he 
pursued his way through the counties of Donegal and 
Tyrone until he reached the palace of the kings of Ulster, 
about three miles north of Derry. This palace was at 
the time of Patrick's visit the seat and residence of Prince 
Owen, one of the sons of King Neil, to whom he proclaimed 
the doctrines of Christ with the result of the king's conver- 
sion and that of his whole family. In this instance also 
Patrick displayed his usual knowledge of human nature, 
and of the tendency there is in the lower grades of society 



146 THE STOEY OF ST. PATRICK. 

to follow the example of those who occupy a more exalted 
position. The populace are easily prevailed upon to follow 
their leaders. 

He crossed the river Foyle and continued his missionary 
operations in that neighborhood, crossing and recrossing 
the smaller rivers in the vicinity, as necessity required, all 
the time vigorously prosecuting his work of preaching the 
gospel, baptizing his converts, planting churches, and sup- 
plying them with teachers and preachers. For several 
weeks, if not months, he persisted with great assiduity in 
his work and with marvelous success, until all those north- 
ern Ulster people were brought over to the Christian faith. 
He proceeded through Coleraine, along the banks of the 
river Bann, preaching ; and wherever he went many were 
converted, churches were established, and wondrous refor- 
mations were effected. It is calculated that he spent two 
years in this tour through Donegal, Tyrone, Derry, An- 
trim, Armagh, and Louth. 

Soon after Patrick proceeded to Moy Slecht, in County 
Cavan, then the seat of the great national idol, Crom Cru- 
ach, which Patrick demolished, having won over the peo- 
ple, and thus put an end to pagan worship at its center. 

In this way this great missionary, in his gospel tours, 
dealt many death-blows to the cruel paganism that held 
the inhabitants of Ireland in its merciless grasp, striking 
the fetters of error and superstition from their minds and 
hearts by the use of the sword of the Spirit, which is the 
Word of God. His weapons were not, except in such a 
case as this Art Moy Slecht, carnal but spiritual, but they 
were nevertheless mighty through God to the pulling 



PATRICK'S VISIT TO THE NORTHWEST. I47 

down of strongholds. The incident connected with the 
destruction of this idol is graphically told in the following 
lines : 

And there wanted not who counseled that he should his 

hand withhold, 
Should that noblest image spare and accept their offered 

gold. 

But he rather — "Grod raised me not to make a shameful 

gain, 
Trafficking in hideous idols with a service false and vain ; 

But to count my work unfinished, till I sweep them, from 

the world ; 
Stand and see the thing ye sued for by this hand to ruin 

hurled." 

High he reared his battle-ax, and heavily came down the 

blow ; 
Keeled the abominable image, broken, bursten, to and fro. 

From its shattered side, revealing pearls and diamonds, 
showers of gold. 

More than all that proffered ransom, more than all a hun- 
dredfold. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

PATRICK'S CLOSING MISSIONAEY TOUES. 

At churcli, with meek and unaffected grace, 
His looks adorned the venerable place ; 
Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway, 
And fools who came to scoff remained to pray. 

As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form 
Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm. 
Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread. 
Eternal sunshine settles on its head. 

Aftee spending some time at Ard-Patrick and Clogher 
and continuing with great success his work in these places, 
he moved southward in the neighboring counties and 
came to the place afterward called Armagh, meaning the 
high field, from its situation on an eminence. It is said 
that the chief man of the place, named Daire, made Patrick 
a present of the site, where a city was laid out, large in 
compass and beautiful for situation, where a cathedral 
was afterward established, also seminaries and schools. 
Everywhere his labors seemed to be crowned with suc- 
cess; assistants gathered around him from various quar- 
ters, and hundreds of persons trained in his schools and 
seminaries went forth to take charge of churches in all 
parts of the land. 

H8 



PATBICK'S CLOSING MISSIOXAEY TOUES. I49 

He was himself the moying and governing spirit every- 
where — stimulating both by precept and example thou- 
sands of others to come to his help and to work assid- 
uously for God. 

From Armagh he proceeded to Dundalk and Dublin. 
At Dublin the peo]3le, hearing of his fame, came out in 
multitudes to welcome him. Alphin, the king of the place, 
listened to his words with unwonted interest, was aston- 
ished at the fervor of Patrick's zeal in preaching, and the 
king with all his people believed. A cathedral was after- 
ward built near a well where it is said Patrick baptized 
many people. His labors changed this place, that hitherto 
had been a stronghold of druidism and of many vices, into 
a fruitful and delicious garden of the Lord, where many 
churches were built on the ruins of the temples of idolatry 
and were furnished with godly and indefatigable pastors. 
This great work could only be accomplished by constant 
application, patience, humility, and invincible courage. 
God had endowed Patrick with all the natural qualities 
which were requisite for such an apostolic work. He had 
the genius of a worker, was a tactician of the fii^st order, 
had a fearless heart and an unbounded charity, and with 
these qualities in the fullest exercise he carried the glad 
news of the gospel to all. 

Leaving Dublin, he bent his course once more south- 
ward, through Leinster and Munster. He preached 
through several parts of Leinster and settled many pas- 
tors over churches, and, going onward to Munster, the 
king, hearing of his coming, went out with joy to meet 
him, conducted him, it is said, with all honor and respect 



150 THE STOBY OF ST. PATRICK. 

to his royal city of Cashel, where he and all his family 
listened to the words of Patrick, were convinced, and 
baptized. 

Leaving Cashel he traveled to Kerry, in the most re- 
mote parts of Munster, in which are located the beautiful 
Lakes of Killarney, which he doubtless visited, and estab- 
lished a church, and here on an island are the ruins of 
Innisfallen Abbey, founded in the seventh century. The 
celebrated "Annals of Innisfallen," consisting of scraps 
from the Old Testament and a compendious universal 
history reaching down to the time of St. Patrick, were 
written here. 

Sweet Innisfallen, long shall dweU 
In memory's dream that sunny smile 

Which o'er thee on that evening fell 
When first I saw thy fairy isle. 

Moore. 

In this neighborhood and through this province he con- 
tinued preaching, visiting, baptizing, founding churches, 
and otherwise executing the functions of his ministry for 
about seven years. He probably often visited and en- 
joyed the beauty and scenery of the Lakes of Killarney 
during these seven years. The following line comprehen- 
sively portrays their beauty and their social environments : 

Where every prospect pleases, and only man is vile. 

Lough Lene, the name in the Irish language for the 
Lake of Learning, but now better known as the Lakes of 
Killarney, are distinguished by the upper, the middle, 
or Tore Lake, and the lower, which is the most extensive — 



PATRICK'S CLOSING MISSIONARY TOURS. \^\ 

the three being connected by a narrow channel. They are 
situated in the County Kerry, and are commanded on the 
east and south by the mountains of Mangerton and Tore, 
and on the west by that of Grlena, beautiful Glena; on 
the north the country is level, stretching toward the town 
of Killarney, which lies northeast. It is beyond the power 
of the artist's pencil or the poet's imagination to give even 
an idea of these charming lakes; they were celebrated 
ages ago for their romantic beauty and soft, bewitching 
scenery, and were styled the tenth wonder of Ireland. 
The surrounding mountains are covered from their apex 
to their base with oaks, yew-trees, evergreens, and the 
arbutus, which, although only a shrub in other countries, 
becomes here a tree, and grows to a height of twenty feet. 
It bears leaves ever green, like those of th<:> laurel, but to- 
ward the extremity they are purple ; its flowers hang in 
clusters like grapes, are white, and of an agreeable flavor. 
These present in their different stages of vegetation a 
delightful variety of colors, and form an amphitheater 
which revives all the charms of the spring in the depth of 
winter. The report of cascades falling from these moun- 
tains to mingle with the waters of the lake below are re- 
peated by a thousand echoes, and contribute considerably 
to the charms of this delightful retreat. 

On the summit of Mangerton Mountain is a lake, the 
depth of which is unfathomable. It is called in Irish, 
Poulle Iferon — the hole or opening to hell ; but it is more 
generally known as the Devil's Punch-bowl. Its water 
appears nearly as black as ink, caused no doubt by the 
peat soil and the shade of the perpendicular rocks that 



152 'J^SE STORY OF ST. PATRICE. 

surround it. The water, even in summer, is intensely 
cold, and still it has never been known to freeze in winter. 

Having founded a church at Ardagh, in County Long- 
ford, he returned through Leinster to the iiorthern parts 
of Ulster again, where he made frequent rounds of visits 
during the following six years, preaching still and making 
converts, comforting and fortifying those who had already 
believed, and setting all things in order as far as possible 
for the success and continuance of the churches. 

Ulster, Leinster, and Munster were visited again and 
again by Patrick in turn. 

The same policy of endeavoring first to reach the kings 
and chiefs was pursued, and with the same result, that 
everywhere he went multitudes were converted to the 
faith of the Christian religion and were baptized, churches 
were established, and clergy in great numbers were sent 
forth. We must not imagine that the baptisms by Patrick 
were ostentatious ceremonies. The world has never wit- 
nessed religious rites less fitted to attract the eye than the 
first baptisms of Christianity, which were effected with few 
conveniences, and little or no ostensible preparation. The 
practice was not new. The Jews were familiar with it. 
They had practised family baptisms in admitting prose- 
lytes for many years, including children of all ages, so 
that to them the general statement that a household had 
been baptized would convey the idea that children were 
included. Patrick's progress through Ireland was an 
almost unbroken series of triumphs — consisting of the 
natives' conversion to Christianity and of their consequent 
baptism by Patrick. 



PATRICK'S CLOSING MISSIONARY TOURS. I53 

We must not forget that Patrick possessed a great ad- 
vantage in prosecuting his work from his knowledge of 
the customs and language of the Irish people. He often 
assembled around him in the open fields, at the beat of a 
drum, a concourse of people, where he related to them the 
story of Christ, which relation manifested its divine power 
upon their rude minds, and their desire for the Christian 
rite of baptism for whole households. Hence we read 
throughout his whole life a record of baptisms wherever 
he went. Senell is supposed to have been Patrick's first 
convert^ then Dechu at Saul. It is recorded that " Dichu 
repented and believed in one God, and Patrick baptized 
him and a great host along with him"; that "Ere the son 
of Deg believed in God, confessed the faith, and was bap- 
tized by Patrick." Once in journeying "Patrick saw a 
tender youth herding swine, Mochal by name; Patrick 
preached to him and baptized him"; "that the men of 
North Munster, to the north of Limerick, went in sea-fleets 
to meet Patrick, and he baptized them in Tirglass " ; " that 
Patrick went into the province of Mugdovin to Donnach 
Maigen, and he baptized the men of Mugdovin " ; " at Te- 
mair Singite Patrick baptized the men of Assail"; "that 
Patrick founded a church at Domnach Maige Slecht, and 
baptized many " ; that " Patrick went to Naas, where he 
baptized Dunling's two sons, Ailill and Illann " ; that "Pat- 
rick came into the regions of Corcutemne and baptized 
many thousand men, and he founded three churches"; 
that Patrick baptized missionaries to the heathen Picts 
of Scotland, the pagan Anglo-Saxons, and the idolaters of 
almost every section of the continent of Europe. 



X54 ^^^ STOEY OF ST. PATRICK, 

He comes, soul ! His is the voice 

Proclaims redemption nigh ; 
His is the message bids rejoice, 

And pleads, " Why will ye die ? " 

His watchmen cry aloud, and far. 
The heathen cease their strife. 

To see the hand of Love unbar 
The door that leads to life. 

Oh, beautiful the feet that toil 

In desert wastes of sin. 
To pluck from Satan^s hand the spoil, 

The Master fain would win ! 

All hail the Messenger divine ! 

Hosanna to his name ! 
Unending may his glory shine. 

His foes be put to shame ! 

M. C. M. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

PATRICK'S DEATH AND BUEIAL. 

They cannot die — " whose spirits here 
Were one with Christ, their living Head ; " 
They cannot die : 
Though the time- wasted sepulcher 
In which their vestiges are laid 
Crumbled in dust may lie. 

They are not dead — whose ashes fill 
That melancholy house of clay ; 
They are not dead : 
They live in brighter glory still, 

Than ever cheer'd their earthly way, 
Full beaming round their head. 

BOWRING. 

Patrick was now an old man — how old there are no 
means of exactly determining. It is reported that he 
passed several of his latest years in Armagh and Saul, 
always, however, bearing on his heart the concerns of the 
church at large in Ireland, for whose establishment and 
progress he had so long and faithfully labored. During 
these closing years it may well be imagined that he held 
many conferences with those who had charge of the 
churches ; that he set in order, so far as his counsel could 
go, many things for their furtherance in knowledge and 

155 



156 THE STOBY OF ST. PATRICK. 

numbers and for their purity of life. During these years 
also he wrote the sketch of his life, which is an autobiog- 
raphy under the title of the " Confession." Feeling his 
end approaching, he retired to Downpatrick, the scene of 
his earliest success, and there terminated his great career. 

There has been a keen debate over the place where 
Patrick's remains were buried, about which there is still 
some uncertainty. This, however, does not correspond 
with the words some imprudent, gushing admirer has 
written at the close of Patrick's " Confession," viz. ; " On 
the 17th of March Patrick was translated to heaven." 

We do not know when, if ever, Patrick was accorded 
the honor of saintship by Eome, for his name is not on 
th§ list of the canonized as kept by Prosper of Acquitaine, 
whose duty it was, as secretary of the pope, to make the 
requisite record ; but this we know, that the first recorded 
example of a solemn and public decree in making a saint 
by that authority on the seven hills was in the case of 
Udulric or Ulric, Bishop of Augsburg, to whom the honors 
of canonical sanctity were adjudged by Pope John XVI., 
in the end of the tenth century, or, to be more exact, in 
the year 993 a.d. 

We claim the title "saint" for every true Christian, 
however humble or unknown. It is a good gospel word, 
always abused when conferred only upon some eminent 
Christian. And in speaking of this Patrick of famous 
memory we have given him the title of " saint," not as a 
concession to superstition, but to identify him in the midst 
of so many other Patricks, and to cause him to stand forth 
in his distinctive character, as the man whom God appar- 



PATRICE'S DEATH AND BURIAL. 157 

ently endowed with eminent gifts, and called him to do a 
wonderfully gracious work as an apostle in Ireland. 

The most careful scholars concede that Patrick's re- 
mains were interred near Downpatrick. The Dean of 
Down, the Eev. Edward Maguire, D.D., has charge of the 
place, and is treasurer of a fund now being raised to erect 
a suitable monument to mark, if not with absolute cer- 
tainty the exact spot, at all events the certain locality in 
which the remains of Ireland's first and great apostle 
repose. 

The following recent letter from Dr. Maguire, Dean of 
Down in Ireland, is sufficiently explicit on this point : 

The Grave of SL PatricJc. 

" Sir : At the recent visit to Downpatrick by the mem- 
bers of the E.S.A. the reputed grave of St. Patrick was 
pointed out, and observations not over-complimentary 
were indulged in respecting its unmarked and sadly neg- 
lected condition. A lady (Miss Eose Cleland, of Eedford 
House, Moy, niece of the late Mr. E. Steele Nicholson, 
author of ' St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland, in the Third 
Century') has just handed me for safe keeping £7, col- 
lected by her, mostly in penny contributions, in the hope 
that this sum may form the nucleus of a much larger and 
more general collection, and that the authorities of Down 
Cathedral may see their way to sanction a great national 
effort for the erection of a suitable monument to mark, if 
not with absolute certainty the exact spot, at all events 
the certain locality in which the remains of Ireland's first 
and great apostle repose. 



158 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

" Personally, I would gladly encourage such an effort, 
but the Cathedral Board and Chapter and public opinion 
must be brought into line before any proposal of the kind 
can have any reasonable prospect of success. Perhaps the 
fact of the 17th of this present month being the fourteen 
hundredth anniversary of the death of our saint (he died 
March 17, 493) may prove suggestive of some effort in 
the direction aimed at by Miss Eose Cleland. 

" Faithfully yours, 
" Ed. Maguire, D.D., Dean of Down. 

"March 4th." 

The place of his sepulcher is not a vital question, but 
wherever it is, it contains the ashes of a saintly hero. 
Thus ended the earthly life of one who, once a slave on 
the Ulster hillsides, overthrew Irish idolatry by the preach- 
ing of the cross, by the simplicity of his life, the fervor of 
his love, and the steadfastness of his faith, and founded a 
church which evangelized half of Europe, and which ex- 
hibited zeal, character, education, and progress from the 
days of St. Patrick till the time of the Norse invasions. 

How sleep the brave who sink to rest 
With all their country's wishes blessed ; 
"When Spring, with dewy fingers cold, 
Returns to deck their hallo w'd mold. 
She there shall dress a sweeter sod 
Than Fancy's feet have ever trod. 
By Fairy fingers their knell is rung. 
By forms unseen their dirge is sung ; 
There Honor comes, a pilgrim gray, 
To bless the turf that wraps their clay ; 
And Freedom shall awhile repair 
To dwell a weeping hermit there. 

Collins. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

A MEMOEIAL TEIBUTE. 

There is no deatli ! The stars go down 

To rise upon some fairer shore ; 
And bright in heaven's jeweled crown 

They shine forevermore. 

There is no death ! The dust we tread 
Shall change beneath the summer shower 

To golden grain of mellow fruit, 
Of rainbow-tinted flowers. 

There is no death ! The leaves may fall, 
The flowers may fade and pass away ; 

They only wait, through wintry hours, 
The coming of the May. 

There is no death ! An angel form 
Walks o'er the earth with silent tread ; 

He bears om^ best-loved things away, 
And then we call them " dead." 

LoED Lytton. 

Though we shall consider more fully Patrick's work in 
succeeding pages, we must record here over his grave that 
no country ever experienced a greater change in its eccle- 
siastical history than did Ireland, through the labors of 
Patrick. And among missionary heroes the career of St, 
Patrick stands preeminent. As a slave, as a prince of 
preachers, as a missionary, who by divine help overcame 
the fierce idolatry of a whole nation, and by his unselfish 

159 



160 ^SE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

love captured their hearts, and has held the hearts of their 
descendants for fourteen hundred years, he occupies a 
place in the front rank of the heroes of the cross. No 
Christian life excels that of Patrick in fascination. He 
was a simple, mighty, evangelical preacher, and one of the 
greatest trophies ever won by the Saviour. 

Since the days of Paul no greater missionary has ever 
lived. The grand motive power of his life was love of 
souls, and like another Paul or Peter he preached the 
gospel with the Holy Grhost sent down from heaven. The 
prodigious effects produced on the minds and hearts of 
men was a clear indication that Grod was with him. Kings' 
daughters were among the honorable women who yielded 
to the truth as spoken by his lips. Leaders of hostile 
clans, whose trade was war, beat their swords into plow- 
shares and their spears into pruning-hooks, and onward 
Patrick went in his good work, from county to county 
and from province to province, till in a few years he had 
<3arried the tidings of salvation from Howth Head to the 
borders of Clew Bay, and from the glens of Antrim to the 
•dreary wilds of Kerry. 

From that time forward, during several centuries, there 
was no country more distinguished than Ireland by the 
possession of Scripture truth. She had a pure gospel, a 
free Bible, an unclouded day of grace, a rent veil unto the 
holiest of all, a religion that will run on parallel, in all 
-eternity, with the benign results of the redemption of 
Christ. Colleges were founded, congregations were organ- 
ized, a bishop, as he was then called, had charge of each 
congregation, and, according to Archbishop Usher, Pat- 



A MEMORIAL TRIBUTE. \Q\ 

rick organized during his life 365 churches and placed 
over them 365 bishops who were simply pastors. 

Ireland was in those years at the head of the nations of 
Europe in respect of godliness. Her civilization was the 
most advanced, her learning the most extended and refined, 
her Christianity was of the least corrupted type that then 
prevailed in the world, and the Irish divines were the only 
ones, so far as known to history, who refused to dishonor 
their reason by refusing to lay it prostrate at the feet of/ 
any human authority. 

Ireland became also the resort of students, and welcomed 
to her hospitable shores scholars from every country in 
Europe. She was then the nursery of patriots — true pa- 
triots — not men of the selfish, greedy, grasping, gory type, 
but men who sought her good, and besought Grod to bless 
her, whether amid sunshine or in the stormiest days. And 
we should like to see once more the true Irish harp strung 
again, and to hear hymns of redemption bursting from the 
joyous lips of a ransomed people. 

" Go preach my gospel," saith the Lord ; 

" Bid the whole earth my grace receive ; 
He shall be saved that trusts my Word ; 

He shall be damned that won't believe. 

" ni make your great commission known, 
xVnd ye shall prove my gospel true. 

By all the works that I have done. 
By all the w^onders ye shall do. 

" Teach all the nations my commands, 

I'm with you till the world shall end ; 
All power is trusted in my hands : 
I can destroy and I defend." 

I. Watts. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

PATRICK'S PHYSICAL, INTELLECTUAL, AND RELIGIOUS CHARAC- 
TERISTICS. 

His words seemed oracles 
That pierced their bosoms ; and each man would turn 
And gaze in wonder on his neighbor's face, 
That with the like dumb wonder answered him ; 
Then some would weep, some shout, some, deeper touched, 
Keep down the cry with motion of their hands, 
In fear but to have lost a syllable. 
The evening came, yet there the people stood, 
As if 'twere noon, and they, the marble sea, 
Sleeping without a wave. You could have heard 
The beating of your pulses while he spake. 

Croly. 

Having given a brief and truthful sketch of the condi- 
tion of Ireland when Patrick landed, a captive upon its 
shores, probably about the year 427 a.d., and having given 
a rapid view of his life afterward with an account of his 
missionary tours in Ireland, we shall now sketch, as briefly 
as we can, his chief characteristics, then his doctrines, and 
afterward the nature and extent of the work he performed. 

Everything that is related of Patrick would lead us to 
conclude that he had a fine personal presence. A person 
of a noble and commanding appearance, whose sanctified 

162 



PATRICK'S CHIEF CHARACTERISTICS. ^ 163 

and loving spirit manifests itself in every feature of his 
face, in every word of his lips, and in every gesture of his 
hand, has a passport to the good- will and favor of others. 
Patrick had most likely such a combination of physical 
graces, and this would greatly aid him in his intercourse 
with others. He is portrayed in traditionary lore as a 
person of attractive, venerable, dignified appearance. The 
majesty of love and truth pervaded his looks. His portly 
frame, his open, manly, and pleasant countenance, with an 
imposing manner, gave him special elements of usefulness. 
And his ardent piety shining through his comely features 
would be to many a means of grace, while his noble pres- 
ence would tend to awe and subdue the ignorant and 
superstitious with whom he came in contact. His very 
appearance, therefore, was in his favor, lending a charm 
to his words and gaining an entrance to the heart. 

Patrick had a powerful intellect and a high order of 
eloquence. The account of Grod given by Patrick in the 
story of his interview with King Laoghaire's daughters is 
profound, exact, and astonishing, and was well fitted to 
interest listening thousands and to move a whole nation. 
So also is his definition of the Three-One God contained 
in his " Confession." The man who could so comprehend 
these great verities of the Christian faith and clothe them 
in such lucid, beautiful words, deserves to be placed in the 
front rank of intellectual and eloquent men. 

Patrick's wisdom and prudence were conspicuous in his 
work. Irish society, as we have seen, consisted of tribes 
and clans, with a chief or a petty king at the head of each, 
A number of these tribes composed a province, with a king 



164 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

governing this larger community. Of these provinces 
there were five, with a king exercising sovereign domin- 
ion over all. These kings were almost autocratic in their 
influence and power within the domain of each, and Pat- 
rick, knowing their influence, took advantage of it and 
planned his missionary campaigns accordingly. Patrick 
sought an opportunity to preach the gospel first to the 
king of a province, and even to the supreme king of Ire- 
land. He knew that when a leading chief received the 
gospel, his subjects would become interested in its exam- 
ination, and many would accept the Saviour. It accord- 
ingly occurred that when Dubthach Maccu-Lugair, " king- 
poet of Ireland and of the supreme king," received the 
Saviour by faith, the gospel obtained a victory over the 
culture and intelligence of Ireland, and tidings of this 
convert to the Christian faith reached and influenced in 
some measure the most ignorant swineherd in the land. 
"While Patrick knew that the soul of a swineherd was as 
precious as that of a king, he also knew that the conver- 
sion of the king's soul might influence thousands toward 
Jesus, while that of the swineherd would make little im- 
pression on the community. The conversion of nobles 
often tends to turn the thoughts of the lower grades of 
society to Him who is the Maker of all and the only 
Saviour. To facilitate his missionary labors Patrick 
therefore wisely embraced the earliest opportunity to 
present the claims of Jesus to the civil, literary, and legal 
chiefs of Ireland. 

Patrick was a lover of learning, and established educa- 
tional and theological schools. We have seen how he 



PATEICK'S CHIEF CMAEACTEBISTICS. \Q^ 

lamented and apologized for Ms own defective education ; 
and while he availed himself of whatever assistance he 
could obtain from any quarter to help him in his work, he 
early felt the necessity of training a native ministry. He 
therefore constituted a ^' household " on a large scale, into 
which were gathered all his assistants, to whom were 
allotted certain work in teaching and preaching according 
to their ability, qualifications, and tact. Some of these, 
while engaged in this household in instructing others at 
certain hours, at other times followed various occupations 
— domestic, mechanical, agricultural, ecclesiastical, literary, 
legal, and nautical. These were all Patrick's agents who 
conducted an educational, theological, and missionary in- 
stitution, which aimed to supply the country with minis- 
ters and teachers. Secundinus, the most scholarly man 
among Patrick's followers, was, we are told, at the head 
of this school, and Brogan was the name of its scribe, who 
lectured on theology, made addresses that were written 
and circulated, and made copies of the works of others. 
Patrick in his "Letter to Coroticus" speaks of a "holy 
presbyter whom he had taught from his infancy " in this 
seminary, whose chief object was the instruction of minis- 
ters for the Irish church, and where Patrick himself lived 
when at home. 

This household college of Patrick was continually bless- 
ing the churches which he founded with able and con- 
secrated ministers. In visiting these churches, he took 
graduates of his college with him, and left one here and 
two there, and seven at another place, as the necessities of 
the field required, and he would send pastors and preach- 



166 ^^^ STOEY OF ST. PATRICK. 

ers wherever there were openings. In this way Patrick's 
college did an immense good as well as in the general in- 
struction of yonng converts. 

His perseverance was very remarkable. He naturally 
partook of the characteristics of an ancient Briton. He 
was mercurial in temperament and was impulsive, ready- 
witted, easily moved to grief or joy, but he held these 
traits in proper control, and was also cool, deliberate, cling- 
ing to the work, though for the time unsuccessful, un- 
promising, and confronted with many difficulties. These 
difficulties often weighed upon his spirits, bowed his soul 
in tearful, supplicating grief before God, but the Holy 
Spirit wiped away his tears and cheered him by impress- 
ing upon his heart such a text as this, " Be not weary in 
well-doing, for in due season you shall reap, if you faint 
not." This cheering, upholding support of Grod's Spirit 
caused Patrick to continue his seemingly useless assaults 
upon the defiant front that Irish heathenism often pre- 
sented. Having this continuous support of the Divine 
Spirit, Patrick persevered until at last the ranks of pa- 
ganism were broken, and its army routed, leaving God's 
chosen champion to unfurl the flag of Calvary over all 
Ireland. 

Patrick was a man of great courage. To prove this, we 
might cite several instances in which he displayed daring 
as conspicuous as that of David, Luther, or Paul. Soon 
after his arrival in Ireland as a missionary, he determined 
to visit his old master Milchu, at Slemish Mountain in 
County Antrim. This Milchu was a desperate man, at 
the head of a numerous tribe of warriors, whose fathers, 



PATRICK'S CHIEF CRABACTEBISTICS. I67 

as well as themselves, were constantly engaged in daring 
exploits, and who had never permitted even the soldiers 
of Imperial Eome to land on the coast of Ireland. To 
him, to his subjects, and to all his neighbors, Patrick was 
but a fugitive slave, prompted by insolence in attempt- 
ing to visit his former master. Patrick, it is said, carried 
with him money to pay his late master for the loss of his 
servitude, as well as to proclaim to Milchu his own re- 
demption by the blood of Christ; but, though from his 
former knowledge of Milchu Patrick had reason to fear 
the loss of all the earthly valuables he carried, and also 
immediate enslavement or cruel death, yet as he was going 
to preach Christ to him and to secure the salvation of his 
old master's family, which he accomplished, our missionary 
feared nothing. And how sad his heart must have felt, 
when, coming in sight of Milchu's house, he saw the con- 
flagration that destroyed its owner and his home, into 
which he had gathered all his treasures, and which he 
had set on fire to escape the visit of his fugitive swine- 
herd. 

Another instance of Patrick's daring courage was given 
in his acceptance of an invitation to visit a desperate rep- 
robate named MacCuil, an Ulsterman, who is described as 
an impious, cruel tyrant, depraved in thought, outrageous 
in words, malicious in deeds, bitter in spirit, cross in soul, 
wicked in body, fierce in mind, a heathen in life, savage 
in conscience, killing passing strangers with execrable 
wickedness. It was the plan of this desperado to murder 
Patrick when he came within his reach; but Patrick's 
words were accompanied with the convincing, converting 



168 THE STOBY OF ST. PATRICK. 

power of God's Spirit, and MacCuil was smitten with deep 
repentance, believed, and was baptized. But the most 
heroic effort of Patrick's life was probably his visit to 
King Laoghaire at Tara, which is briefly described else- 
where, but is worthy of a more extended notice. 

Patrick in his journey to Tara had fixed his temporary 
resting-place on the hill of Slane, near Drogheda, where he 
was surrounded by the cemetery containing the remains 
of many royal pagans, and with the symbols of their liv- 
ing and powerful idolatry. Tara was in full view of Pat- 
rick's camping-place, and about nine miles di^ant. As 
we have stated elsewhere, a great convention of the chief 
nobles of Ireland met at stated intervals at Tara, to attend 
to the public business of the whole island, and to enjoy a 
series of feasts. The night after Patrick's arrival at Slane 
was one of the dates of a great festival at Tara. Kings, 
governors, generals, princes, and nobles of the people, ma- 
gicians, soothsayers, enchanters, and the inventors and 
teachers of all art and science, were called together at this 
time by King Laoghaire. These latter came to practise 
their enchantments, magical devices, and idolatrous super- 
stitions. The congregated followers of these were ex- 
ceedingly numerous. The feast of Easter had arrived, 
and was regarded in that day as the greatest festival that 
ever existed. On the eve of its celebration, lamps were 
lighted or fires kindled. Patrick resolved to celebrate 
Easter, and he kindled the fire. It was seen at Tara, and 
created there great indignation; for, as we have seen, 
there was a custom proclaimed by edict of the king, that 
the soul should perish from the people who lighted a fire 



PATRICK'S CHIEF CHARACTEBISTICS. 16^ 

anywhere in any of those regions on that night, before it 
was kindled in the palace of Tara. 

Laoghaire, the king, was greatly disturbed by Patrick's 
violation of the legal custom of Tara, and the lawless act 
must be punished. Nine carriages were prepared for the 
king's party ; the two magicians, Lucatemail and Lochru, 
were added, for the attack on Patrick in the presence of 
all the nobles. When Laoghaire came to the place where 
Patrick was, he was called out from the position of his 
Easter fire to the king. When he appeared before the king, 
he was enraged, his nobles were indignant, the magicians 
were full of malice, and all seemed ready to destroy the 
apparently helpless preacher of the gospel. But the brave 
missionary looked at the carriages and their horses, and 
felt more powerful than the king of Tara with all Ireland 
to help him, and with heart and lips sang the appropriate^ 
words of the psalm, " Some trust in chariots and some in 
horses, but we will remember the name of our God." Only 
one of the king's retinue. Ere, rose at Patrick's approach, 
who, as the servant of Christ, blessed him, and Ere believed 
in Christ as the Saviour, and in the everlasting God. It is 
said that the magicians spoke abusively of Patrick's faith, 
and all seemed ready to rush upon him ; but Patrick arose, 
and in a loud voice said : " Let God arise, let his enemies 
be scattered, and let them that hate him fly from his face." 
His powerful and desperate enemies seemed awed in the 
presence of such a bold and courageous man, and all fled, 
leaving Patrick, the king, queen, and two attendants. The 
queen pleaded for her husband, who pretended conver- 
sion, but who tried to kill the missionary. He, however, on 



170 ^^^ STOBY OF ST. PATBICE. 

the following day (Easter) — when the kings, princes, and 
magicians were sitting at the national feast in the im- 
mense assembly hall of Tara with the chief king — ap- 
proached the scene of revelry with the boldness of a lion, 
singing with his brethren the words of his famous hymn, 
which we give elsewhere. As he entered the banquet- 
ing-hall to make an address before all the tribes of Hi- 
bernia upon the holy faith, he seemed like inviting death 
from thousands of blood-stained reprobates. Laoghaire 
the king, and many others, it is reported, believed^some 
through fear, others with saving faith. Thus Patrick 
secured a great victory at Tara, which in a large measure 
•opened Ireland to the gospel, and he often spoke of his un- 
bounded gratitude for the grace that enabled him to lead 
such numbers to Jesus. 

Patrick possessed a great advantage from his acquain- 
tance with the Irish language. It is sometimes assumed 
that as a Briton his language was identical with that of 
Hibernia. The Britons, being under the Eomans for so 
many years, spoke the Latin tongue, while the inhabi- 
tants of Ireland retained the old original Celtic language. 
Time and separation made great changes in the language 
of the nationalities. Our apostle, by such a providential 
occurrence as sent Joseph into Egypt to provide for his 
kindred and the subjects of King Pharaoh in the coming 
famine, was carried into Ireland in his youth, and detained 
there six years, that he might learn its language thor- 
oughly, and that he might be able to preach Christ with 
irresistible eloquence in the Celtic language to the Celtic 
people. 



PATRICK'S CHIEF CHARACTERISTICS. YJ\ 

He also had a remarkable influence over those whom 
he met ; a magnetic power to draw their affections to him- 
self and their hearts to his Master. His followers held 
him in the highest reverence while he lived, and loved 
him after his death next to the gracious Eedeemer. There 
were no divisions among his followers, however numerous 
they became. He was the recognized superintendent of 
his many churches, whose members bestowed his name 
upon their children ; and though he has been dead more 
than fourteen centuries, he still lives in millions of Celtic 
hearts in Ireland and in other lands, and many of their 
children, schools, and churches still bear his honored name. 

Patrick was distinguished for the very low estimate he 
placed upon his own literary qualifications. "Hence I 
blush to-day," he writes in his " Confession," " and greatly 
fear to expose my unskilfulness, because not being elo- 
quent, I cannot express myself with clearness and brev- 
ity, not even as the Spirit and the mind and the endowed 
understanding can point out. . . . But I would not, 
however, be silent, because of the recompense. And if, 
perhaps, it appears to some that I put myself forward 
in this matter with my ignorance and slower tongue, it 
is, however, written : ' Stammering tongues shall learn 
quickly to speak peace.' How much more ought we to 
aim at this — we who are ^ the epistle of Christ,' for ' salva- 
tion unto the ends of the earth.' And if not eloquent, yet 
powerful and very strong ' written in your hearts,' ' not 
with ink,' it is testified, but ^by the Spirit of the living 
God.' And I hope, likewise, that it will be thus in the 
days of my oppression, as the Lord says in the gospel: 



i72 THE STOBY OF ST. PATRICK. 

^It is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Fa- 
ther that speaketh in you ; ' wherefore I give unwearied 
thanks to my Grod, who has kept me faithful in the day 
of my temptation, so that I may to-day confidently offer 
myself to Christ, my Lord, as a sacrifice, a living vic- 
tim, who saved me from all my difficulties, so that I may 
say : Who am I, Lord ! and what is my vocation, that to 
me thou hast cooperated by such divine grace with me. 
. . . Behold we are witnesses that the gospel has been 
preached everywhere, in places where there is no man 
beyond." 

Patrick was distinguished for the modesty with which 
he gave an account of the marvelous success of his mis- 
sion. This is the way in which he speaks of it : " It be- 
hooves me to distinguish without shrinking from danger, 
to make known the gift of God, and his everlasting con- 
solation, and, without fear, to spread everywhere the name 
of God, in order that even after my death I may leave it 
as a bequest to my brethren and to my sons, whom I have 
baptized in the Lord — so many thousand men. And I 
was not worthy or deserving that the Lord should grant 
this to his servant, that after going through afflictions, 
and so many difficulties after captivity, after many years, 
he should grant me so great favor among that nation 
which, when I was yet in youth, I never hoped for nor 
thought of . . . . 

" Whence then has it come to pass that in Ireland, they 
who never had any knowledge, and until now have only 
worshiped idols and unclean things, have lately become 
a people of the Lord and are called the sons of God ? Sons 



PATRICK'S CHIEF CHABACTEBISTICS. I73 

of the Scots and daughters of chieftains are seen to be 
sons and daughters of Christ. . . . Not my grace, but God 
indeed hath put this desire into my heart, that I should 
be one of the hunters or fishers whom of old God prom- 
ised before, in the last days. ... I am envied. What 
shall I do ! Behold ! ravening wolves have swallowed up 
the flock of the Lord, which everywhere in Ireland was 
increasing with the greatest diligence, and the sons of the 
Scots, and the daughters of the princes are monks, sons 
and virgins of Christ, in numbers I cannot enumerate." 
We almost hear Patrick in these words repeat the words 
of Holy Writ: "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but 
unto thy name be the glory." 

Patrick was distinguished for his detestation of dishon- 
esty. In his epistle to Coroticus there is this paragraph : 
^' The Most High reprobates the gifts of the wicked. He 
that offereth sacrifices of the gifts of the poor is as one 
that sacrifices the son in the presence of the father. ^ The 
riches,' God says, ' which he will collect unjustly, shall be 
vomited from his belly ; the Angel of Death shaU drag him 
off ; the fury of dragons shall assail him ; the tongue of the 
adder shall slay him ; the inextinguishable fire shall devour 
him.' Therefore, woe unto those who fill themselves with 
things that are not their own ; or, what shall it profit a 
man, if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his 
own soul?" 

Patrick was distinguished for his simple honesty and 
unworldly spirit. " I have endeavored," he writes in his 
" Confession," " in some respects to serve even my Chris- 
tian brethren; and the virgins of Christ and religious 



l74 ^^^ STOBY OF ST. PATRICK. 

women, who have given me small voluntary gifts, and 
have east off some of their ornaments upon the altar, and 
I used to return these to them, although they were of- 
fended with me because I did so. But I did it for the 
hope of eternal life, in order to keep myself prudently in 
everything, so that the unbelieving may not catch me in 
any pretext, or the ministry of my service, and that even 
in the smallest points I might not give the unbelievers 
an occasion to defame or to depreciate me. But perhaps 
because I have baptized so many thousand men, I might 
have expected a scrapall [a coin equal to about five cents] 
from some of them. Tell it to me, and I will restore it 
to you ; or, when the Lord appointed clergy everywhere 
through my humble ministry, I dispensed the rite gratui- 
tously. If I asked of any of them even the price of my 
shoe, tell it against me, and I will restore it you more. 
I spent for you, that they might receive me ; and among 
you and everywhere I traveled for your sake, amid many 
perils, even to remote places, where there was no one be- 
yond, and where no one else ever penetrated, to baptize, 
to appoint preachers, or to confirm the people. The Lord 
granting it, I diligently and most cheerfully defrayed all 
things." 

Who, in reading these words of Patrick, is not reminded 
both of the prophet Samuel and of the Apostle Paul I The 
former of whom made this appeal to the people of Israel : 
" Behold, here I am : witness against me before the Lord, 
and before his anointed: whose ox have I taken? or 
whose ass have I taken! or whom have I defrauded? 
whom have I oppressed? or of whose hand have I re- 



PATRICK'S CHIEF CHARACTERISTICS. I75 

ceived any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith? and I 
will restore it you." (1 Sam. xii. 3.) And Paul said 
(Acts XX. 33j 34) : " I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, 
or apparel; yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands 
have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that 
were with me." 

Patrick was distinguished for a genuine missionary 
spirit. When he sailed for Ireland to preach the gospel, 
that country had many British slaves engaged in the 
lowest occupation, and suffering the greatest hardships. 
His old master wanted to seize him and to enslave him 
again. Petty wars, piracy, tyranny, and idolatry were 
rampant all over the island, but the intrepid Patrick, in 
the name of Jesus, fearlessly entered upon his work, and 
pursued it for half a century or more, until all Ireland 
was nominally Christian, though its entire people were 
not converted. He presents his missionary plan in his 
" Confession " when he writes : " Therefore it is necessary 
to spread our nets, so that a large multitude and throng 
may be taken for Grod." There never was a foreign mis- 
sionary whose heart embraced a wider field, and whose 
labors among pagan barbarians were more successful in 
the conversion of souls, among whom also he planted such 
a missionary spirit as led them to complete his unfinished 
work in Ireland, and to send missionaries to Caledonia, 
to the pagan Anglo-Saxons, and in unparalleled numbers 
to many other European countries. 

Of his caU to the ministry and of the spirit in which 
he prosecuted his work, he thus writes : " The divine re- 
sponse very frequently admonished me. His poor pupil. 



X76 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

Whence came this wisdom to me, which was not in me — 
T who neither knew the number of my days nor was ac- 
quainted with God! Whence came to me afterward the 
gift so great, so beneficial, to know God and to love him ; 
that I should leave country, and parents, and many gifts 
which were offered to me with weeping and tears. More- 
over, I offended, against my wish, many of my seniors ; 
but God overruling, I by no means consented or complied 
with them. It was not my grace, but God who conquered 
me, and resisted them all, so that I came to the Irish peo- 
ple to preach the gospel, and to suffer insults from unbe- 
lievers, that I should listen to reproach about my wander- 
ings, and endure many persecutions, even to chains, and 
that I should give up my noble birth for the benefit of 
others." Writing to Coroticus, Patrick says: "I was a 
freeman according to the flesh, having a decurion for my 
father ; but I sold my nobility for the advantage of others 
[Irish converts] and I am not ashamed nor grieved for 
the act." Patrick's father, as we have seen, was a mem- 
ber of the Town Council of Dumbarton, one of the ten 
Eomano-British cities under the " Latian law," which in- 
vested him with this privilege. Patrick, as a native of 
Dumbarton, was a Eoman citizen of patrician rank. This 
he sacrificed to preach to the Hibernians. 

"I pray God that he may give me perseverance, and 
count me worthy to render myself a faithful witness to 
him, even till my departure, on account of my God whom 
I love. I pray him to grant me, that with those prose- 
lytes and captives I may pour out my blood for his name's 
sake, even although I myself may even be deprived of 



PATRICK'S CHIEF CHARACTERISTICS. \'J'] 

burial, and my corpse most miserably be torn limb from 
limb by dogs, or by wild beasts, or that the fowls of heaven 
should devour it. I believe most certainly, if this should 
happen to me, I shall have gained both soul and body. 
Because, without any doubt, we shall rise in that day in 
the brightness of the sun, that is, in the glory of Jesus 
Christ our Redeemer, as sons of the living Grod and joint 
heirs with Christ, and to be conformed to his image ; for 
of him, and through him, and in him, we shall reign." 

Patrick was distinguished for his love of souls. " I am 
ready," he writes, "to lay down my life unhesitatingly 
and most gladly for his name, and there, in Ireland, I 
wish to spend it even till death, if the Lord permit. I 
distributed among them not less than the hire of fifteen 
men, so that you might enjoy me, and that I might always 
enjoy you in the Lord. I do not regret it, nor is it enough 
for me. I still spend and will spend for your souls. Cod 
is mighty, and may he grant me that in future I may 
spend myself for your souls. Behold, I call Cod to wit- 
ness upon my soul that I lie not! Wherefore may it 
never happen to me, from my Lord, to lose his people 
whom he has gained in the utmost parts of the earth." 

His kindred loved him, and by " tears and gifts " tried to 
prevent his entrance upon the duties and dangers of the 
Irish mission ; but he had intense compassion for unsaved 
souls. Urged forward by this compassion, he journeyed 
through many dangers, and to the most remote places. 
He was not satisfied until the last man in the most remote 
part of the island had heard the gospel. To accomplish 
this, he had to visit every bog shelter, mountain hut, and 



178 ^^^ STOBY OF ST. PATRICK. 

fisherman's cabin in the land. Incessant prayer for the 
conversion of souls was his daily exercise. Like the well- 
known prayer of John Knox, "Grive me Scotland or I 
die," so Patrick's heart was continually crying out to Grod, 
" Give me Ireland or I die." And as a result God opened 
the windows of heaven and poured out floods of convert- 
ing grace, so that Ireland in his day, while not entirely 
without unbelievers, became a Christian island, and soon 
after a school for the training of missionaries for many 
lands. 

Patrick was distinguished for a tender and sympathetic 
faith in the Irish people. He seems to have loved the 
Irish as Paul loved the Galatians. His letter to Coroticus 
might almost be placed beside a Pauline epistle. The 
Irish are his dear children. He yearns over them, prays 
over them, trains them, fosters them, educates them, and 
believes in their wondrous capabilities under the action 
of divine grace. In this respect he was an example for 
every preacher and every Christian worker. He was a 
stranger in Ireland, and was surrounded with influences 
which at times might sSem to demonize him. He worked 
amid clans torn by intestine wars, and burning with mu- 
tual hatred. It might appear to be in vain for him to 
preach the doctrines of free grace to such a population ; 
but though he may have preached long with only partial 
success, he was patient, and tender, and persevering in his 
work, and at length that work told, and at the close of his 
patriarchal life, the country whose people he loved, and for 
whom he was willing to lay down his life, was studded with 
Christian churches. 



PATRICK'S CHIEF CHARACTERISTICS. I79 

Patrick was distinguished for his intense realization of 
a future state of rewards and punishments. " Although 
I am in many respects imperfect," are his words, " I wish 
my brethren and acquaintances to know my disposition, 
that they may be able to comprehend the wish of my 
soul. I am not ignorant of the testimony of the Lord, 
who witnesses in the psalm, ^Thou shalt destroy those 
that speak a lie.' And again, ^The mouth that belieth 
killeth the soul." And the same Lord says in the gospel : 
' The idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an 
account for it in the day of judgment.' Therefore I ought 
earnestly, with fear and trembling, to dread this sentence 
in that day, when no one shall be able to withdraw him- 
self or to hide, but when we all together shall render ac- 
count of even the smallest of our sins before the tribunal 
of Jesus Christ. And he has given to him all power, 
above every name of those that are in heaven, on earth, 
and under the earth, that every tongue should confess to 
him, that Jesus Christ is Lord and Grod, in whom we be- 
lieve, and expect his coming to be ere long the Judge of 
the living and of the dead, who will render to every one 
according to his deeds. Because, without doubt, we shall 
rise in that day in the brightness of the sun — that is, in 
the glory of Jesus Christ our Eedeemer — as ' sons of the 
living God' and ^ joint heirs with Christ'; for that sun 
which we behold at God's command rises daily for us ; but 
it shall never reign, nor shall its splendor continue ; but all 
that even worship it — miserable beings — shall wretchedly 
come to punishment. But we who believe and adore the 
true Sun, Jesus Christ, will never perish, neither shall they 



IgQ THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

who do his will, but shall contiDiie forever, as Christ con- 
tinues forever, who reigns with God the Father Almighty, 
and with the Holy Spirit, before the ages, and now, and 
through all the ages of ages. Amen. 

" Ye therefore shall reign with the apostles and prophets 
and martyrs, and obtain the eternal kingdom, as He him- 
self witnesses, saying: ^They shall come from the east 
and from the west, and shall sit down with Abraham and 
Isaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. Without are 
dogs, and sorcerers, and murderers, and liars, and perju- 
rers ; their part is in the lake of eternal fire.' " 

He only in a general honest thought. 

And common good to all, made one of them. 

His life was gentle ; and the elements 

So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up. 

And say to all the world, " This was a man ! " 

Shakespeake. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

PATRICK'S SCRIPTURAL KNOWLEDGE. 

Most wondrous Book ! bright candle of the Lord ! 
Star of Eternity ! The only star 
By which the bark of man could navigate 
The sea of life and gain the coast of bliss securely. 

Pollock. 

Patrick's writings give unmistakable evidence that he 
was trained to read the Bible in his childhood, and to store 
his memory with its language. It would- have been well- 
nigh impossible for him to so familiarize himself with its 
language in after years if he had not packed his memory 
with it in his youth. The Word of God must have dwelt 
richly within him in the springtime of his life ; and hence 
there was such fruitage of it in his writings in his older 
days. John Euskin, that master- writer of English prose, 
says that when he was a boy, his mother compelled him 
to memorize chapter after chapter of the Old Testament, 
particularly the Psalms, and chapter after chapter of 
the New Testament; and whatever he wrote after was 
filled with quotations from the Bible. As you can taste 
the June clover in the sweet country butter, so you can 
taste the Bible in the writings of John Euskin. And as 
Irish butter partakes of the scent of the daisy-field in 

181 



182 TEE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

which the cows pastured, so Patrick's language, every- 
where, is perfumed with the green pastures of God's Word, 
in which he fed, lay, and rose, and which he afterward 
esteemed more than his necessary food. 

Patrick was not a writer of books, much less of syste- 
matic theological treatises. The writings, genuine and au- 
thentic, that have come down to us, are comprised in less 
than ten thousand words. The most important is a short 
apology for one so insignificant as he was presuming to 
•come to Ireland as a missionary. Another is a spirited 
and at times scathing letter of remonstrance to a petty 
Welsh prince, who, while professing to be a Christian, 
inflicted massacre, rapine, and robbery on some Irish 
Christians, and carried many away captive. And the 
third is a hymn, which is called his breastplate or armor, 
and full of earnest gospel truth. We cannot expect to 
find much theology in such brief documents. Yet as 
Patrick was an earnest Christian man whose heart was 
in every word he wrote, it is wonderful what insight even 
these fragments afford us of the innermost thought of the 
Irish apostle on the great Christian verities. 

We come, in this fact, upon one secret of the extraor- 
dinary power and influence of his teaching. It had its 
root in, and drew its inspiration and vitalizing force from, 
his personal experience of the saving power of Grod's Word. 
What he had seen and touched and handled and experienced 
of the Word of Life, that declared he to men. And, as it 
was this that gave life and power to his doctrine when he 
preached it, it is not less from this that it derives its 
interest for us to-day. 



PATRICK'S SCRIPTURAL KNOWLEDGE. 183 

In reading these writings of Patrick, we have been so 
much impressed by his familiarity with God's Word, that 
we have gone carefully over them, and find that he has 
quoted 61 times from 18 books of the Old Testament, and 
131 times from 22 books of the New Testament, and has 
used 5 quotations from 3 books of the Apocrypha. Indeed, 
whole pages of his writings consist of quotations from 
the Bible. Even when there is no quotation, he speaks 
in the language of Scripture. Grod's Word seems to have 
been his chief study ; for in his genuine works there is no 
reference whatever to any human authority, except the 
few verses that are quoted from the Apocrypha. It is 
worthy of note here that the old Brehon Laws, some of 
which we have elsewhere quoted, define the respective 
rights both of the clergy and of the laity ; and among 
the rights expressly guaranteed to the latter was " the re- 
cital of the Word of God to all who listen to it and keep 
it." Thus was this time-honored right — the right to God's 
most precious Word — secured to the people of Ireland in 
ancient Irish law. 

Patrick was, undoubtedly, a giant in the Scriptures, and 
he taught his followers to search the Scriptures. His own 
writings are thoroughly imbued with the phraseology of 
God's Word, and an early Roman Catholic writer tells us 
that Patrick used to read the Bible to the people and ex- 
plain it to them for days and nights together. Patrick's 
quotations accord, in a great measure, with a version 
of the Bible called the Itala^ in use before the Vulgate 
version was made by Jerome. It is likely he often quoted 
Scripture from memory, and not always with verbal ac- 



134 THE STOET OF ST. PATRICK. 

cnracy. It may be interesting, as a proof of Patrick's 
love for the Scriptures, to state that there is a remarkable 
antiquarian " silver shrine," inclosing a copy of the Four 
Gospels in Latin, which for many, many years belonged to 
the monastery of Clones, County Monaghan, Ireland, and 
now among the most prized treasures of the Eoyal Irish 
Academy in Dublin, which, it is highly probable, was the 
veritable copy of the Gospels used by Patrick himself dur- 
ing his devotions. The manuscript is, unfortunately, for 
the most part, a solid opaque mass, with only portions of it 
legible. Facsimiles of some of its leaves have been printed 
and published. 

We cannot read a page of Patrick's writings without 
perceiving that we are in the presence of another Apol- 
los, one mighty in the Scriptures, a genuine teacher and 
preacher of Jesus Christ. He held to the Bible and to the 
Bible alone, knowing that its truths are sanctifying and 
saving, and that to attempt to lead a holy life without the 
Bible is like attempting to build a castle out of clouds, or 
to weave canvas out of threads of gossamer. Oh, that 
we had some one with the fervid, heaven-taught spirit of 
Patrick, who, with Bible in hand, would go through these 
United States as Patrick paced the provinces of that 
"green isle of the ocean," to evangelize his own warm, 
fond admirers here, to teach them biblical truth, and 
drive out everything that loveth and maketh a lie. 

It is said that in the neighborhood of Clonmel there is 
a beautiful well in a secluded valley, called St. Patrick's 
well. Clear, sparkling water, cool and pure, bubbles up 
all the year round from the hidden depths of the earth, 



PATRICE'S SCRIPTURAL KNOWLEDGE. 185 

and flows away from tlie lip of the well, down to the 
valley into a large stagnant pool which it feeds. The 
water in the well is ever fresh and beautiful ; but when 
it flows into the sedge and slime and weeds of the pond, 
it loses its limpidity and becomes muddy and dark. On 
St. Patrick's day, every year, crowds of pilgrims, whom 
superstition attracts to the well, go there to drink, in hopes 
that they will be healed of disease or protected from dan- 
ger. A correct instinct keeps them away from the murky, 
malerial pond down in the valley. That well in its spark- 
ling purity is, in parable, the faith which Patrick preached 
and practised. The stagnant pool is that faith corrupted 
and darkened in the course of the centuries. That well 
is the pure gospel of Jesus Christ, the grand doctrine of 
grace, and faith, and holiness, and eternal life, through 
God's love in Christ, and the operations of the Holy Spir- 
it. Would that all people, of whatever name or nation, 
had the spiritual instinct to pass up from the pond and 
repair to the Fountainhead. Here are the healing waters, 
and here is the fountain, over which the invitation of the 
prophet is written, " Ho ! Every one that thirsteth, come 
ye to the waters." 

Blessed Bible !• How I love it ! 

How it doth my bosom cheer ! 
What hath earth like this to covet ? 

Oh what stores of wealth are here I 
Man was lost and doomed to sorrow. 

Not one ray of light or bliss 
Could he from earth's treasure borrow, 

'Till his way was cheered by this ! 

Palmer. 



CHAPTER XXYIIL 

pateick's doctkines. 

Jesus, Saviour, pilot me. 
Over life's tempestuous sea ; 
Unknown waves before me roll, 
Hiding rock and treacherous shoal ; 
Chart and compass come from thee : 
Jesus, Saviour, pilot me. 

What Patrick's authoritative standard of doctrine and 
life was is clear and certain, as revealed in his writings. 
He knew no standard of appeal but Scripture. For him 
the supreme source of authority was no human person, 
no tradition, and no church council, but Holy Writ alone. 
The only rule to which he refers for direction, whether in 
doctrine or duty, was the Word of God. He perpetually 
appeals to it, his familiarity with it is remarkable, he 
interweaves it skilfully with his exhortations and remarks. 
He was, on this account, characterized as the man of " the 
Holy Book." When he founded a church, one present 
he was accustomed to make to it was the Books of the 
Law and the Books of the Grospel. 

The expression of his faith in the sacred Trinity, given 
in his " Confession," takes very much the form of a creed. 
It immediately follows a reference to his conversion, and 
is, in fact, a warm outpouring of his faith in Grod. Here 

186 



PATRICK'S DOCTRINES. 187 

are his words : " Because there is no other God, neither 
ever was, neither before, nor shall be hereafter, except Grod 
the Father, unbegotten, without beginning, from whom 
is all beginning, upholding all things, as we have said, 
and his Son, Jesus Christ, whom, indeed, with the Father, 
we testify to have always been, before the origin of the 
world, spiritually with the Father, in an inexplicable 
manner begotten before all beginning, and by himself 
were made the things visible and invisible, and was made 
man; and death having been vanquished, was received 
into the heavens to the Father. And he has given to him 
all power, above every name, of those that are in heaven, 
on earth, and under the earth, that every tongue should 
confess to him that Jesus Christ is Lord and God, in whom 
we believe, and expect his coming to be ere long the ' Judge 
of the living and the dead,' ' who shall render to every man 
according to his deeds.' And he hath poured upon us 
abundantly the Holy Spirit, a gift and pledge of immor- 
tality; who makes the faithful and obedient to become 
sons of God and joint heirs with Christ, whom we con- 
fess and adore, one God in the Holy Trinity of the sacred 
name." 

His creed stands out before us in his writings both clear 
and terse. The doctrine of the Trinity, as we have seen, 
is in the forefront of his faith. The opening pages of his 
" Confession " are illumined with its statement, and it is 
woven into the texture of his Hymn as its very substance 
and life. He taught the unity in Trinity, and won the 
Irish people from polytheism, idolatry, and druidical su- 
perstition. He taught the Trinity in unity, and unfolded 



Igg THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

the great cardinal doctrines of grace — the Father's love^ 
the Son's sacrifice, and the Spirit's regenerating work. 
This rich cluster of scriptural truths formed the ground- 
work of his creed. And whatever errors may have crept 
into the creed of many inhabitants of the Emerald Isle 
since, the simple faith which the shamrock illustrated in 
Patrick's hand is still the faith of the Irish people. They 
still believe in the Trinity. 

Patrick's teaching of the way of salvation was strictly 
evangelical. This he illustrates by his own case. Here 
are his words: 

" I was, as it were, a stone lying in the deep mire, and 
He that is mighty came, and in his mercy raised me up, 
and placed me on top of the wall. . . . He took me from 
the midst of those who seemed wise and learned and 
mighty in speech, and inspired me, fool that I am, and 
despised by the world, that I should, with fear and rever- 
ence and without a murmur, be useful to the nation to 
which I was dedicated by the loving will of Christ." He 
laments his want of education ; he had had good teachers, 
but he had neglected them. He deplores his want of suit- 
able language to express what he has in his heart; but 
the Lord had pity on his ignorance and low estate. " He 
guarded me before I knew him, or could distinguish be- 
tween good and evil. He admonished me and comforted 
me, as a father does a son." In another place he alludes 
to sore trials and unworthy accusations which he had 
endured, and breaks forth in a strain of heartfelt grati- 
tude : " Unwearied thanks I render to my God, who has 
kept me faithful in the day of my temptation, so that now 



PATRICK'S DOCTBINES. 139 

I offer my soul a living sacrifice to my Lord, who pre- 
served me in all my distresses. Who am I, Lord, that 
thou shouldst reveal to me so much of thy divine power ? 
So that to this day I have exalted and magnified thy Name 
in every place where I have been, in prosperity and ad- 
versity, in every event, good or bad. Thanks be to Grod, 
who heard my prayer and gave me courage to attempt a 
work so pious and so wonderful." 

Patrick believed in conversion by the sovereign grace and 
Spirit of God. In the first chapter of his " Confession " he 
gives an account of the commencement of the divine life in 
his soul. These are his words : " The Lord opened to me the 
knowledge of my unbehef, that even late I might remem- 
ber my sins, and turn to my Lord with my whole heart." 
This statement reminds a Bible-reader at once of the 
account given by Luke in Acts xvi. 14 of the conversion 
of Lydia, " whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended 
unto the things which were spoken of Paul." 

Farther on in his " Confession " Patrick also writes, " He 
hath poured out upon us abundantly the Holy Spirit, the 
gift and assurance of immortality, which causes men to 
believe and to become obedient, that they might be sons of 
God and joint heirs with Christ." Surely here is as clear a 
statement as any one can require that Patrick believed 
that faith, obedience, son ship with God, and the assurance 
of immortality, all come exclusively from the outpouring 
of the Spirit upon the unsaved. 

One striking illustration that Irish divines of that day 
believed that men were naturally under the control of sin 
and needed God's grace and truth, is the following : " As a 



190 ^^^ STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

man in the dark, though he possesses the ability to see 
with his eyes, yet sees nothing till light comes from with- 
out, so it is with the corrupt will till the light of divine 
mercy shines upon it." 

Patrick believed in the atoning character of Christ's 
death. In the vision of which he tells us, that he had 
relating to his mission to the pagan Hibernians, he 
heard these words, which he records in his " Confession " : 
" He who gave himself for thee is he who speaks to thee.'' 
This earnest man undoubtedly thought that Christ uttered 
these words when he appeared to him in that vision. The 
Saviour's gift of his life, as it is expressed, shows that, in 
Patrick's opinion, Christ died as his substitute on the 
cross ; and in Place's hymn, which was written in the 
eighth century, in which the leading incidents of Patrick's 
life are related, the author writes of our missionary thus : 
" He preached for threescore years Christ's cross to the 
tribes of the Hibernians. The blood of Calvary was the 
theme of Patrick's preaching, and of his followers for some 
ages after him." 

Patrick taught that the Lord's Supper was emblematical 
of Christ's body and blood, and that both bread and wine 
were to be partaken by communicants. 

This was the doctrine of John Scotus even in the ninth 
century, viz., that the Eucharist was a remembrancer of 
the Saviour's body and blood — the symbols of the absent 
body and blood of Christ. This was entirely agreeable to 
the belief of the church in primitive times and the doc- 
trine of the fathers. This was the belief of the ancient 
British and Irish Christians, as it was at first of all be- 



PATRICK'S DOCTRINES. 191 

lievers. Communion in both kinds was the practice of 
the early Irish church and of the church universal for 
centuries after Patrick's time. This is the true interpre- 
tation of the statement made by Patrick to the daughters 
of King Laoghaire who were converted through his in- 
structions. " Ye cannot see Christ unless ye first taste of 
death, or unless ye receive Christ's body and his blood.'^ 
This statement unquestionably represents the practice of 
St. Patrick and of the Irish church for ages. The body 
and blood are the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper^ 
which are spoken of by the Saviour as his body and 
blood, because they are figures of them, and in the inci- 
dent referred to both were given to the daughters of an 
Irish king. Patrick taught the way of salvation by faith 
in Christ alone. 

In the earliest Christian writers of Ireland there is no 
hint given of any intercessor but Christ. They rejoiced 
in justification by faith alone, and continually insisted 
upon holy hearts and lives. In a brief reference to Pat- 
rick's sermon before Laoghaire the king and nobles of 
Tara, in Muirchus's " Life of Patrick," written in the sev- 
enth century, it is stated that when Patrick appeared be- 
fore this distinguished assembly, Dubbthac, the chief poety 
alone among the G-entiles arose to his honor ; and he first 
on that day believed in Cod, and it was "imputed unto him 
for righteousness," or justification. Justification by faith 
was held with the strictest purity by Patrick and by many 
Celtic believers in Britain and Ireland at this period. 

These doctrines, and others revealed in God's Word, 
were all held and taught by Patrick and his successors for 



192 ^^^ STOBT OF ST. PATRICK. 

many years in Ireland. He recognized that Grod was the 
source of all grace through Jesus Christ alone. He felt 
that God had come to him at Slemish as he did to Jacob 
at Bethel, where he had a vision of angels and heard en- 
couraging words, and which he ever afterward knew as 
Eethel, the house of Grod ; and Patrick, after his vision and 
encouraging call to mission work, looked on the Slemish 
mountain side as the scene of God's grace, where, like the 
prodigal, he came to himself and said, " I will arise and go 
to my Father." This led him to a constant reliance upon 
the grace and Spirit of God. He wrote in his " Confes- 
sion," " I can accomplish nothing unless my Lord himself 
should give it to me. It was not my grace, but God, who 
overcame me, that I should come to the Hibernian nations 
to preach the gospel." " Therefore I am much indebted to 
God who gave me such great grace that many were born 
again of God." 

These doctrines held and preached led him to a life of 
personal humility before God. The scriptural doctrine of 
sin and of expiation by Christ, which Patrick held, pro- 
duced this fruit in his soul. He was humble and meek as 
a little child before God. A sweet spirit of self-abasement 
breathes everywhere through his writings. " I am noth- 
ing," he seems everywhere to say — " Christ is everything." 
This is what he felt, and this is what he wrote. He was 
therefore distinguished for his simple and unaffected 
piety. 

His language everywhere betokens this spirit— such 
language as this : '' I believe I was aided by Christ my 
Lord, and his Spirit was then crying out for me." He was 



PATRICK'S DOCTRINES. 193 

consequently one of the humblest men that ever lived. 
After he had wielded an influence in Ireland greater than 
any man who preceded him, and at his death looking back 
on the wonderful missionary work he had accomplished, he 
uses expressions indicating the greatest lowliness of mind. 
It was the belief in these doctrines also that caused his 
unselfishness to shine conspicuously throughout his genu- 
ine writings. He certainly owed nothing to the people in \ 
Ireland to whom he came to preach Christ, and for at least ( 
fifty years he labored night and day among them without/ 
pecuniary reward. 

Patrick never speaks of any mediator but Christ, who is 
all-sufficient. He speaks of him in his " Confession " as 
our " Redeemer, who gave his life for us," and in his Epis- 
tle to Coroticus as " He who was crucified and put to death 
for his people." And in his Hymn he speaks of the " virtue 
of his intercession and of the ineffable glory of that peren- 
nial life which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Patrick 
declares in the same Hymn what he needs to protect him 
in every peril is " Christ within him, Christ before him," 
etc., and closes that Hymn with the words. 

Salvation is the Lord's ; 
Salvation is the Lord's ; 
Salvation is Christ's. 
Let thy salvation, O Lord, be ever with us ! 

In teaching salvation by faith in Christ and in him 
alone, he was particularly fond of quoting the Scripture, 
" He that believe th and is baptized shall be saved, but he 
that belie veth not shall be condemned." He urgently in- 
sisted also upon the necessity of regeneration and sanctifi- 



194 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

cation by the Holy Spirit. He refers to the new birth 
^gain and again, and speaks of "many people through 
him having been born to God"; while he represents the 
Christian life as a " living sacrifice," a complete consecra- 
tion of ourselves to God which, however, divine grace can 
alone enable us to offer. Nor was his teaching about the 
observance of the Sabbath and the worship of God less 
strict. In the early Irish church this day was devoted to 
the divine service, and its sanctity most strictly guarded. 
By the ancient Brehon Law the people were required to 
give " every seventh day of the year to the service of 
God." This is really the requirement of the fourth com- 
mandment of the Decalogue, and it is stated in an early 
life of St. Patrick that from vespers on Saturday night 
until the third hour on Monday, Patrick did not travel 
from place to place on the seventh day, but stayed where he 
was, and Saturday night was observed as a part of Sun- 
day. The early Irish Christians would not work on Sun- 
day, and Patrick insisted on a total cessation of all labor. 
Wherever his followers and disciples were when they heard 
the sound of the vesper-bell on Saturda}^, they instantly 
ceased working, and remained wherever they were till 
.Monday morning, spending the whole of the Lord's Day 
in religious services. 

Image worship, as well as the worship of saints or 
angels, was peremptorily forbidden, and those were con- 
demned who thought they had found out a way " whereby 
the invisible God might be worshiped by a visible image," 
and it was expressly taught that " to adore any other besides 
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, is the crime of 



PATRICK'S DOCTRINES. 195 

impiety." There is no mention in Patrick's teaching of 
auricular confession, invocation of saints, purgatory, or 
any of the distinctive dogmas of the Eomish church. 
None of these had a place in the creed of St. Patrick or in 
the teaching of the early Irish church. 

Meek, simple followers of the Lamb, 
They lived and spake and thought the same ! 
Brake the commemorative bread. 
And drank the Spirit of their Head. 

On God they cast their every care ; 
Wrestling with God in mighty prayer, 
They claimed the grace through Jesus given ; 
By prayer they shut and opened heaven. 

To Jesus they performed their vows, 
A little church in every house ; 
They joyfully conspired to raise 
Their ceaseless sacrifice of praise. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE KISE OF MONASTICISM. 

A little holy hermitage it was, 

Down in a dale, hard by a forest side^ 
Par from resort of people that did pass 

In travel to and fro ; a little wide 

There was an holy chapel edifyde, 
"Wherein the hermit duly wont to say 

His holy things each morn and eventide ; 
There, by a crystal stream, did gently play, 
"Which from a sacred fountain welled forth alway. 

Spenser. 

Before we attempt to delineate the church founded by 
Patrick in Ireland, it will aid in the understanding of some 
of its peculiarities if we briefly sketch the origin and 
progress of monasticism, that characterized many of the 
early churches of Christianity. 

Paul, a native of the Lower Thebais, in Egypt, is gen- 
erally regarded as the first Christian hermit ; and it is cer- 
tain that he was, at least, the most distinguished of the 
age in which he lived. Mild, modest, learned, and emi- 
nently pious, he fled into the desert, a.d. 251, to escape the 
bloody persecution of the Emperor Decius. Finding there, 
in a rock, some spacious caverns, which were said to have 
been the retreat of money-coiners in former days, he chose 
one of them for his dwelling. A bright spring supplied 

196 



THE RISE OF MONASTIC ISM. 197 

him with water, while the fruit of a neighboring palm- 
tree furnished his food, and its leaves his raiment. When 
he entered upon this mode of life he was only in his 
twenty-second year ; yet, after the persecution had ceased, 
the attractions of the world did not wean him from soli- 
tary contemplation ; for we are told that he thus contin- 
ued during ninety years, praying, fasting, and meditating 
on the sublimest themes that can occupy the mind. 

This brief sketch of the life of Paul may give a general 
idea of the habits of the whole class to which he belonged. 
There are, altogether, twenty-four "fathers and saints of 
the desert " enumerated by the Roman church, as distin- 
guished for their holy living, in the fourth century. How 
erroneous their conception of the spirit of the gospel! 
Man was made for society, not for solitude. Grod has en- 
joined upon us the performance of duties that never 
can be discharged by a hermit in his cave. Abandoning 
all idea of being useful in his generation, he resembles 
the servant in the parable who hid his talent in the earth. 
A hermit is the very personification of selfishness; and 
selfishness is utterly at variance with the open-hearted 
generosity and disi/iiterested benevolence inculcated in 
the Bible. So complex is the spiritual structure of the 
heart, it is often difficult to discover in what part of the 
machinery the moving power lies. A man may deceive, 
not only his neighbors, but himself, by plausible phrase- 
ology. Paul and his brother eremites supposed that, by 
retiring from society and employing themselves con- 
stantly in a routine of strict observances, they in the 
highest sense devoted themselves to God and sustained 



198 ^^^ STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

the character of saints. They appear to have forgotten 
that it was a part of true religion "to visit the fatherless 
and widows in their afftiction," as well as " to keep them- 
selves unspotted from the world." 

St. Antony, the contemporary of Paul, was born a.d. 
251, at Coma, a village in Upper Egypt. His parents, who 
were wealthy Christians, brought him up " in the nurture 
and admonition of the Lord"; and he was remarkable, 
from childhood, for filial obedience and strict observance 
of the duties required by the church. Before' he had com- 
pleted his twentieth year he found himself an orphan, 
possessed of a considerable estate, and intrusted with the 
care of an only sister. Having resolved that they both 
should devote their lives exclusively to religion, he made 
over a part of his property to the state, and sold what 
remained for the benefit of the poor. He then placed his 
sister in " a house of virgins," and Athanasius tells us that 
St. Antony visited her long afterward, in her old age, 
when she had become superior, or "mistress of many 
virgins." From this it is inferred that the most ancient 
religious house was a nunnery, as history records that 
the first organization of male devotees was subsequently 
established by St. Antony himself. 

After having passed about thirteen years in the neigh- 
borhood of his native village, he crossed the eastern branch 
of the Nile and took up his abode in the ruins of an old 
castle among the mountains. Excepting the person who 
carried bread to him once in every six months, he very 
rarely saw a human being in this remote solitude for the 
space of twenty years, at the close of which period he 



THE BISE OF MONASTICISM. 199 

left his retirement and founded the firstmonastery. This 
he did at Phaium, near Aphroditopolis, in Heptanomis, or 
Middle Egypt. This institution, during its earlier prog- 
ress, comprehended only a few anchorets, living in sepa- 
rate cells within a short distance of one another, and thus 
constituting, collectively, what was called a Laura. They 
probably met together, at intervals, for mutual counsel 
and edification; but their general habits were those of 
solitaires. This appears to have been the first step toward 
association. To live in perpetual solitude was a self- 
inflicted punishment of such intolerable severity that few 
could endure it; and the devotees accordingly began to 
inquire whether they could not attain the same ends with 
some relaxation of the rules by which they had at first 
thought it expedient to bind themselves. The result of 
this inquiry was the Laura. The next step was to leave 
the caves of the rocks and inhabit separate cells in one 
edifice, or monastery. The third and last step was to 
abandon entirely the idea of living in solitude, and form 
a religious society, or Ccenohium, which was governed by 
an Ahhot, according to particular rules. 

In this way, it is believed, the monastic system was 
gradually developed. It originated in rigid adherence to 
a manner of life which, being contrary to nature, could 
not permanently be maintained. Modifications were there- 
fore introduced ; and, as men love extremes, the monk in 
after-ages, instead of dwelling in a lonely rock and living 
on herbs, degenerated, in some parts of the world at least, 
into the most boisterous of boon companions — became, in 
fact, a scientific epicure and a jolly bacchanalian. 



200 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

St. Antony, however, exhorted his monks rigorously to 
perform the duty of self-examination before retiring to 
rest ; to despise the vanities of the world and reflect con- 
stantly upon heaven ; to spend every day of their life as if 
they knew it to be the last ; to cultivate assiduously a holy 
fervor ; and to be at all times prepared to repel the assaults 
of the devil. 

The principal founders of monastic orders, in the fourth, 
fifth, and sixth centuries, after St. Antony, were St. Pacho- 
mius, St. Basil, St. Augustine, St. Benedict, and St. Maur. 

One cause for the rise of monasticism in the days of 
primitive Christianity was undoubtedly the persecutions 
to which the followers of Jesus were subjected. These 
persecutions were so severe and relentless that they were 
compelled to abandon their worldly pursuits, to deny 
themselves the comforts of society, and to flee for their 
lives into secluded places where they might be safe from 
the violence of the oppressor. These pious people some- 
times became so much attached to the mode of life which 
tyranny had compelled them to adopt that when persecu- 
tion ceased they still remained in retirement, and became 
enamoured with the advantages of solitude, and regarded 
it as so conducive to the development of religious char- 
acter that they separated from the little bands with which 
they were associated as companions in tribulation, and 
thenceforth led the lives of hermits. Those who enter- 
tained more moderate views concerning the necessity of 
lonely meditation formed themselves into societies under 
the government of a superior, erected monasteries in pic- 
turesque localities, observed certain rules laid down by the 



THE RISE OF MONASTICISM. 201 

founder, and wore a -aniform dress to distinguish them as 
members of that particular brotherhood. The luxury and 
profligacy of the Roman empire also alienated the most 
earnest disciples of the cross from taking their part in 
things around them, and drove them far from the haunts 
of men. But the causes that led to monasticism were 
many and complex. The monastery to the timid and in- 
dolent was a refuge from the storms of life, to the weak 
and wavering it was a prop and defense against them- 
selves, to the fanatic it was a short and speedy way to 
heaven, to the ambitious it was a pedestal from which to- 
look down on the rest of mankind, and to persons of noble 
temperament it was, as it seemed to them, the way to 
attain to counsels of perfection. 

Such, it is believed, was the origin of monasticism, that 
gigantic system of hypocrisy and delusion which ultimately 
spread over Europe and wields in many countries such an 
influence still. It cannot, however, be denied that, among^ 
the earlier ascetics especially, there was much cordial sym- 
pathy and genuine piety, and many whose views did honor- 
to their intellect and whose unfeigned devotion proved the 
honesty of their hearts. This life of seclusion, it should be 
remembered, was not the product of Christianity, but its 
adopted child. It came in from without. It was in keeping 
with Eastern tastes, had its ancestry in the Essen es and 
other similar Oriental mystics, and found its exemplars in 
Elijah and John the Baptist. A monastery was at first the 
cave of a solitary hermit ; then in Lower Egypt two were 
together in one cell ; and then in Thebald each cell con- 
tained three monks. They soon began to arrogate to 



202 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

themselves the term "religious," and admission to the 
monastery was termed "conversion." Pride very soon 
became the besetting sin of the cloister. Ambition and 
covetousness crept in among those who had renounced 
the world, its pomps and vanities; sensuality assailed 
those who had retired, as they had hojDed, to a safe distance 
from the temptations of the flesh ; and sometimes religious 
melancholy and even downright insanity were induced by 
the loneliness and silence of the cell. Monks, as a rule, 
were fanatics either for orthodoxy or for heresy. They 
often became frenzied theologues, and listened eagerly for 
the rumors of polemical controversy, and rushed out into 
the fray not as jDcacemakers but as combatants. They 
claimed for themselves an authority above that of bishops, 
emperors, councils. 

The growing reverence for celibacy in the fourth cen- 
tury aided monasticism to make its way into almost every 
province of the Roman empire, and enormous commu- 
nities of monks were founded in rude organizations. ISTot- 
wdthstanding the rapid growth of monasticism in some 
places, it had many and grave difficulties to contend with 
in others. The very enthusiasm in its favor by some 
intensified bitterness and antagonism in others. The aus- 
terities practised in the cells, sometimes causing death, 
provoked popular protests, and jibes and jeers were ex- 
cited by the pale faces and somber dress of the monks in 
the streets, while the civil power regarded with jealousy 
the absorption of so many of its citizens from the duties of 
life and from all participation of a social and ]3olitical nature. 

From the first there was a marked contrast between 



THE lilSE OF MONASTICISM. 203 

Eastern and Western monasticism. The dreamy quietism 
of the East preferred silent contemplation of the unseen 
world to labor and toil. Its self-mortification was passive 
rather than active. So far as it prescribed work at all, it 
was more as a safeguard of the soul against the snares 
which Satan spreads for the unoccupied than with a view 
to benefiting others. Weaving mats and baskets of osiers 
was all that was required as a harmless way of passing 
the time, or of busying the fingers while the thoughts 
were fixed on vacancy. The soft and genial climate, too, 
spared the Asiatic the trouble of providing for his own 
daily wants and those of his brethren with the sweat of 
his brow. The same habit of indolent abstraction held 
him back from those literary pursuits which were in many 
instances the redeeming characteristic of the great mon- 
asteries of the West, even when they gave the rein to an 
abstruse and bewildering disputativeness which contin- 
ually evolved materials for more disputing. 

In Europe it was quite otherwise. There, even within 
the walls of the monastery, was the ever-present sense of 
the necessity and blessedness of exertion. There the 
monk was not merely a worker among other workers, but 
by his vocation led the way to enterprises of danger and 
difficulty. Whatever time remained over and above the 
stated hours of prayer and study was for manual labors 
of a useful kind, as farming, gardening, building, out of 
doors ; and within the house, for calligraphy, painting, etc. 
The monks in Europe were the pioneers of culture and 
civilization as well as of religion ; usually they were the 
advance guard of the hosts of art, science, and literature. 



204 T^E STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

From this radical divergence of thought and feeling two 
main consequences naturally followed : a less sparing and 
more generous diet was a necessity for those who were 
bearing the fatigue of the day in a way of which their 
Eastern brethren could form no idea ; a more exact and 
more minute arrangement of the hours of the day was a 
necessity for those who, instead of wanting to kill time, 
had to economize it to the best of their ability. 

In the islands of the West, by their position and by 
other circumstances removed from immediate contact 
with Central Europe, the course of events was somewhat 
different. In the monasteries there, discipline was lax. 
The fervent temperament of the Celts was in itself less 
patient of control, less amenable to discipline. Monks 
living in cells apart from the monasteries were not dis- 
countenanced nor supervised in Ireland as on the Conti- 
nent. The character of the monasteries there, and of their 
ecclesiastical organization, tended to make the monastery 
less dependent on its bishop. Originally the chieftains of 
the clan or tribe, even after its conversion to Christianity, 
exercised a patriarchal authority in spiritual as well as in 
temporal matters ; and as the convent establishments grew 
in number and importance, the headship of them was still 
retained generally in the family of the chieftain, the office 
of the abbot, like the office of the bard, who was usually 
found in every Celtic monastery, being, as a rule, heredi- 
tary. This provision for the continuance of the supremacy 
we have explained elsewhere. The Bible in this matter 
does not appear to have been consulted, or if consulted, its 
counsels were disregarded. 



THE BISE OF MONASTICISM. 205 



The Bible. 



Happiest they of human race 
To whom Grod has granted grace 
To read, to fear, to hope, to pray, 
To lift the latch and find the way ; 
Better had they ne'er been born 
Who read to doubt, or read to scorn. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

THE CHURCH OF ST. PATEICK. 

The Bible. 

Study it carefully, 

Think of it prayerfully, 
Deep in our hearts let its pure precepts dwell ; 

Slight not its history, 

Ponder its mystery — 
None can e'er prize it too fondly or well. 

Accept the glad tidings. 

The warnings and chidings, 
Found in this volume of heavenly lore ; 

With faith that's unfailing, 

And love all-prevailing, 
Trust in its promise of life evermore ! 

The church of St. Patrick was from its beginning monas- 
tic, as we learn from a passage in his " Confession." But 
the early Irish monasticism was, as we shall see, unlike that 
known at a later period. It is not possible to fix the date 
of the first monastery in Ireland deserving of the name. A 
monastery was founded by Comghall at Bangor, County 
Down, about 540 a.d., which is the second oldest in Ire- 
land. The name Bangor is derived from Banchor or Bane 
Choraidh, " The "White Choir," and was originally called 
" The Yale of Angels," as well as " The City of the Saints." 

206 



THE CHURCH OF ST. PATRICK. 207 

This monastery was an abbey of regular canons, whose 
fame for learning spread throughout Europe, and its 
school, over which Carthagus presided, became so cele- 
brated that students from all parts of the world resorted 
to it. When Alfred, the most renowned of all Anglo- 
Saxon kings, founded the University of Oxford, he pro- 
cured the principal professors from this great seminary. 

The special occupation of the inmates in these early 
schools was the study of the Scriptures. Many of these 
did not dwell in the monastery, but lived in their own 
houses with their wives or families, like other men. Many 
of them, at least, were men who, retiring from the common 
employments of the world, dedicated themselves to reli- 
gious studies and devotion, and who within their own 
houses led stricter lives than others. In those days many 
went by the name of monks who Were married men, had 
children, and possessed property. The rules of monastic 
life in that early day did not oblige a man to renounce 
either his possessions or his married state. He might 
possess and use both, if he pleased, without any ecclesias- 
tical censure. These were the kind of " monks and virgins 
of Christ " of whom Patrick makes mention in his " Con- 
fession " — those who lived in their own houses, and only 
differing from other Christians by special consecration to 
aod. 

Such persons had a cottage or neighborhood meeting 
for prayer and Bible reading and study. These devoted 
disciples, " living sacrifices to Christ," rendered noble ser- 
vice in the evangelization of Ireland and in building up 
Patrick's converts in scriptural knowledge. 



208 ^^^. STOBY OF ST. PATEICK. 

Patrick's "monks and virgins of Christ," married or 
unmarried, were of those of whom the beloved disciple 
writes in the Book of Eevelation as constituting "the 
Bride, the Lamb's wife," to whom her heavenly Hus- 
band was " the chief among ten thousand and altogether 
lovely." 

These schools were not only theological seminaries, but 
were also home-missionary societies. Bangor sent forth 
its students to all the surrounding country, where in many 
places there was much destitution from the poverty of 
the mountain soil along the Antrim coast. To the in- 
habitants of these parts the ministers of Bangor preached, 
and with them they prayed and read the Scriptures, in 
mountain huts, in fishermen's cottages, and often in the 
presence of large congregations. 

These Bangor ministers supported themselves by the 
labor of their hands, and frequently gave assistance to the 
poor. This Bangor home-missionary school also founded 
large numbers of other institutions of its own order, 
preaching the gospel over extensive regions of the north 
of Ireland, literally without cost, and among a people who 
had scanty if any means of paying for it. This was one 
of the noble fruits of Patrick's earliest mission work. But 
these schools fostered also a foreign-missionary spirit. It 
may have been at such a school in Britain that Patrick 
became first imbued with a missionary spirit which led 
him to respond so heartily to God's call to preach to the 
foreign Irish pagans ; and when Patrick was blessed with 
such success in his work, many hundreds of pious Irish- 
men were led both in that age and afterward to ask. Could 



THE CHUBCH OF ST. PATRICK. 209 

not we with God's blessing accomplish as much among 
some of the idolatrous peoples of the continent of Europe ! 
Though monasticism flourished in the British Isles be- 
fore the mission of Augustine to England in 596, yet the 
Roman missionaries on their arrival received anything 
but a cordial welcome from their British brethren. There 
was a feeling of mutual distrust and hostility, because of 
the differences which existed in ritual, costume, etc. There 
was probably, as we have seen, an organized church in 
Britain in the fourth century. There were then many 
populous towns and some of the culture of a rich Ro- 
man province. The intercourse, partly commercial and 
partly hostile, which took place between Britain and Ire- 
land in the third and fourth centuries could scarcely have 
failed to introduce Christianity into Ireland, and medieval 
writers state that Christianity existed in Ireland before 
St. Patrick. But the church which grew out of these 
earlier Christian efforts appears to have been principally, 
if not altogether, confined to the south of Ireland; the 
province of Munster forming an independent kingdom at 
this period, or at least having but little political connection 
with the other provinces. This church which grew up in 
the south of Ireland, though the offspring of the British 
church, must necessarily have adapted itself to the politi- 
cal and social organization of the country, which was 
altogether tribal, and, there being no walled towns, had 
none of the elements of municipal government which had 
molded the church organization elsewhere. By the sub- 
sequent conversion of the rest of Ireland by St. Patrick 
this organization was merely extended, not changed. The 



210 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

spirit and laws of clanship, theref orfi,.gaTe shape and form 
to the external framework of the church founded by St. 
Patrick. The salient characteristics of that framework are 
instructive and interesting. 

The church established by Patrick was not subject to 
the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome. The independence 
of the Irish church in relation to Eome continued for cen- 
turies after Patrick's time. It was not until near the end 
of the seventh century that any in Ireland conformed even 
to the Romish usages at Easter, and it was not until the 
end of the eleventh century that Roman rule made its way 
through the instrumentality of Danish invaders. 

Another feature that distinguished the early Irish church 
was its freedom from metropolitan jurisdiction. Though 
the Abbot of Armagh was regarded as Patrick's successor, 
and as such was held in honor, he had no jurisdiction as a 
primate of the church. He may have been eminent in his 
sphere, but that sphere was limited, and not coextensive 
with the church. In those days there was no archbishop 
in Ireland, nor was there any diocesan bishop there. Each 
bishop, as the pastor of every church was called, acted in- 
dependently of any outside episcopal jurisdiction, and was 
only subject in a measure to the abbot of his monastery, 
or in the spirit of clanship to his chieftain. There were 
no dioceses in the modern meaning of the word, and there 
were not even parishes. There was, however, as can be 
easily seen from this condition of things, a great multi- 
plicity of bishops. In a famous document believed to 
have been written in the eighth century it is recorded 
that in the time of Patrick the clergy were " all bishops^ 



^ 



THE CRUBCR OF ST. PATRICK. 211 

famous and holy and full of the Holy Ghost, 350 
in number, and founders of churches," and "they re- 
jected not the service and society of women." In an- 
other ancient document the number of bishops mentioned 
as in Ireland at this time is "seven times fifty holy 
bishops." Another ancient author states that "Patrick 
erected 365 churches and ordained 365 bishops," while 
another makes the number 370; but another eminent 
document asserts that Patrick built 700 churches and or- 
dained 700 bishops. If Ireland had at our present writing 
as many bishops in proportion to its population as it had 
in those days, it would now have from 5000 to 10,000 
bishops, according as we fix the number of its early bish- 
ops at 350 or 700. Well may an eminent historian call 
the episcopacy of that early period " a congregational and 
tribal episcopacy." Another author affirms that in towns 
and cities many bishops were ordained who had charge 
of what would now be considered contiguous parishes. 
Moreover, there were associations of bishops who lived 
together in groups of seven. One authority mentions six 
such groups with seven bishops in each, and in three of 
these groups the seven bishops were brothers, sons of one 
father. Another authority gives 138 such groups of seven 
bishops each, and in many instances the seven were sons 
of one father ; and the same authority mentions two sets, 
each of 150 bishops ; and two sets more of 350 bishops 
each, and also that Mochta, the abbot of Louth, a disciple 
of St. Patrick, had in his monastery and as part of his 
"family" there 100 bishops and 300 presbyters. It is 
estimated that the population of Ireland then numbered 



212 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

about 200,000, and the inquiry naturally arises. Why, in 
this sparse population and in the rude, primitive condition 
of society that then existed, should the Irish church pro- 
vide such an immense supply of clergy for home service, 
and also send them, as a " flood," over other countries ! 

The answer is probably this, that there was an earnest 
religious spirit prevalent among the people, and also a 
high regard for the clerical office, and there was, as a 
result of this, a remarkable law in the Senchus Mor, or 
Brehon code, which, as we have seen, St. Patrick assisted 
in revising — a law probably unparalleled in any other 
church in Christendom — a law which declared " that every 
first birth of every human couple, the mother being a law- 
ful wife, belonged to the church " ; and that if there were 
eleven or more children of whom fewer than ten were sons, 
the church was entitled to a second son. This was evi- 
dently a partial Christianizing of the Mosaic law, which 
declared that the first-born of every creature, including 
the first-born of man, was to be presented to the Lord and 
given to Aaron and his successors, as recorded in Exodus 
xiii. 2 and in Numbers xviii. 15. This law was no dead 
letter in the early Irish church, and there were no excep- 
tions allowed in its operation. It applied to the sons of 
kings and chiefs as well as to the humblest in the land. 
In pursuance of this law, the young persons dedicated to 
God were put under training in the great monastic schools, 
which were the colleges of that time. No other Christian 
church in Europe claimed such rights as these as against 
the whole body of the laity. 

It is interesting to contemplate so many persons called 



THE CHURCH OF ST. PATRICK. 213 

bishops devoted to the services of religion, but it may be in- 
quired, How, in the midst of so sparse a population, were 
they employed ! Many of them were doubtless pastors of 
congregations, but they had comparatively no jurisdiction, 
as the government of the church was principally in the 
hands of the abbots. The Apostle Paul requires that a 
bishop should be " apt to teach," that he may " feed the 
flock" and by "sound doctrine both exhort and convince 
the gainsayers." It is unquestionably certain that the 
proper functions of a bishop in the ancient church of Ire- 
land were regarded as those of teaching and preaching, and 
of giving spiritual instruction and comfort in their visits 
from house to house; but doubtless very many of these 
bishops were also engaged professionally in the communi- 
cation of sacred learning in the monasteries and in the 
schools and colleges that sprang up around them. Some 
of these Irish bishops attained to such high distinction as 
instructors in both theology and science that great num- 
bers of students flocked to them from all parts of Europe. 
Others of them were employed as scribes. The art of 
printing had not been invented, and it was necessary to 
copy the Scriptures, that copies of Grod's Word might be 
accessible to those who had become converts to the new 
faith ; and this copying process was carried to great per- 
fection as regards both the style of the text and its illumi- 
nation. This was a work of the greatest importance and 
one of the most honorable in which any one could engage ; 
and all this work, with all that pertained to the ornamen- 
tation, preservation, and protection of the sacred manu- 
scripts, was almost exclusively in the hands of the clergy. 



214 THE STOBY OF ST. PATRICK. 

It must be borne in mind that the early monasteries, num- 
bering hundreds in all in the British Islands, were Bible 
schools where thousands of students were under instruc- 
tion. Other branches of study were pursued, but Bible 
knowledge especially was sought. Nearly a thousand New 
Testaments were required for even one of these schools, 
allowing one Testament to three or four students. The 
Scriptures also were supplied to the many churches de- 
pendent upon the monasteries; and the scribes in these 
monasteries supplied them all. The copying of the Scrip- 
tures reached in the Irish monasteries its greatest perfec- 
tion in the beauty of the writing and in the splendor of 
the ornamentation. The work looked more like the work 
of an angel than of a man. 

Almost innumerable copies of the Word of Grod, in Gos- 
pels, New Testaments, and in entire Bibles, were made in 
these monasteries, where there was a room called the scrip- 
torium, or copying-room, which varied in size and in its 
activities as the work was more or less pressing, but in 
all there was a warm love for the Bible, and this prayer 
was often offered in these transcribing-rooms : 

"Vouchsafe, O Lord, to bless this scriptorium of thy 
servants, and all that dwell therein, that whatsoever sacred 
writing shall be here read or wiitten by them they may 
receive with understanding and bring the same to good 
effect, through our Lord." 

Nor was the work in these monasteries confined to copy- 
ing the Scriptures — the earnest examination of the Scrip- 
tures by these students often resulted in e::positions of 
them. These expositions became numerous and were 



THE CHURCH OF ST. PATRICE. 215 

freely used. One of these learned students is said to have 
written short notes on thirteen of Paul's epistles, another 
wrote a commentary on the Psalms, and a third was the 
author of a solution of the difficulties of the Bible, which 
he called " The Wonders of the Scriptures." Columbanus 
wrote an elegant exposition of the Book of Psalms ; Sedu- 
lius, a commentary on the Epistles of Paul, which was 
Pauline in its doctrine and excellent in its practical sug- 
gestions. Many other excellent commentaries were written 
in these monasteries, but only fragments of this ancient 
literature escaped the destructive fury of the Danes, who 
commenced their ravages in 795 a.d. and continued them 
to the end of their sway in Ireland. It is sad to think 
these places, and many others of greater renown, were all 
destroyed, many of the professors and students slain, and 
their books and documents burned, by pagans who lived 
in the surrounding districts of Britain, by Anglo-Saxon 
heathen, and others. The godly men who conducted these 
schools lived near to God, led their suffering brethren to 
the only Saviour for refuge and consolation, built churches 
and colleges, sent out ministers everywhere to preach 
Christ among the pagans, made and circulated thousands 
of copies of the Scriptures, cheered the people as they 
went forth to battle for their altars and their homes, 
prayed for their success, ministered to the wounded, di- 
rected the dying to the Lord of life, and invoked his pro- 
tection upon the dear ones at home. 

The bishop had in the early Irish church many other 
duties of a much less dignified character to discharge than 
in copying the Scriptures. In rank and dignity he held in 



21G THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

those days a position subordinate not only to the abbot of 
the monastery but also to its reader ; and he had also to be 
the companion and defender of some one who was going 
forth on a missionary tour. St. Patrick, we are informed, 
was accompanied in his missionary journeys by a strong 
man or "champion," who had to defend him from, his enemies 
and at times to carry him. The name of the bishop who 
discharged this duty for Patrick is a matter of record, and 
also that he got tired of his work and settled at Clogher. 
Life was exposed to such risks in those times, and fighting 
was so common, that even the clergy found it expedient 
to learn the art of self-defense. Monasteries, too, were 
obliged to have their champions and armed retainers. A 
bishop of our day would not likely feel at home filling 
such a position, and would consider it not consistent with 
his episcopal functions and dignity. 

But we must remember that the ordination in this early 
church in Ireland was neither rigorous nor stringent. It 
was not necessary that the candidate for bishop should 
have been previously, as required now, a deacon or a pres- 
byter, and one bishop was thought sufficient to confer it ; 
nor were women excluded from the episcopate. It is stated 
on the most reliable authority that the form of ordaining 
a bishop was read over Brigit by Bishop Mel, and that she 
was actually ordained a bishop — a statement confirmed by 
her biographer, who speaks of her " episcopal and virginal 
chair." History makes it very evident that Irish eccle- 
siastics did not confine themselves to what was elsewhere 
regarded as regular and canonical. The English church 
of that day considered the Irish clergy so lax in their ordi- 



THE CHURCH OF ST. PATRICK. 217 

nation usages that it refused to recognize them as hav- 
ing true orders. So persistent were they in this refusal 
that the synod of Cealcythe, presided over by Wilfred, 
Archbishop of York, passed a special canon enacting 
that no person of Scotic — that is, of Irish — race should be 
permitted to exercise his ministry in any of their dioceses, 
and the first reason given is, " because it was uncertain 
whether, or by whom, they had been ordained." It was 
even doubtful whether they had been ordained at all. 

Another feature of the early church in Ireland was that 
its chief functionaries succeeded one another, not by elec- 
tion, but by a hereditary law. It should be remembered 
that the real rulers were the abbots or " coarbs " as they 
were called, the principals of the monasteries. These 
abbots were sometimes presbyters and sometimes only 
laymen. These exercised almost absolute jurisdiction, 
and the bishops were in complete subordination to them. 
Even when the head of a monastery was a woman the 
bishops and other clergy were subject to her. The heads 
of the principal monasteries formed a council who debated 
questions and spoke the voice of the church ; so it is evi- 
dent, from all points from which this question is consid- 
ered, that the coarbs were the true heads of the church. 
We have seen that the succession of these coarbs was 
determined by a hereditary principle. This becomes evi- 
dent when we refer again to the way in which a monastery 
was founded. 

On that occasion a portion of land, or in some cases a 
royal fort, was made over by the head of the tribe to which 
it belonged to the founder, who was usually connected 



218 THE STOBY OF ST. PATRICK. 

with the same tribe. The abbacy or headship of that 
monastery was retained in the family of the founder, and 
the abbot was provided from among its members. When 
a vacancy occurred it was filled either from the direct line 
of the founder's kin, or, when that failed, a successor was 
taken from a collateral branch. For many generations 
the coarbs were the lineal descendants of the family that 
had given the original endowment. Free election of the 
abbot by the community was thus quite unknown, and 
the abbot was often not a bishop but a presbyter or a 
layman. In the case of Kildare the coarbs were always 
females, and in one instance the coarb ot Armagh was a 
female. It was the abbot that inherited the rights of 
chieftainship and property, and who was therefore the im- 
portant personage in the ecclesiastical community. Hence 
it were easier to get a correct list of the abbots than of the 
bishops. The bishop or bishops, for there was often more 
than one bishop connected with a monastery, were in 
subjection to the abbot and did not necessarily succeed 
«ach other according to our modern notions of episcopal 
succession. There were frequent breaks in the chain. In 
the attempt to trace St. Patrick's successors, many of 
the persons mentioned are called abbots, some are called 
bishops, some are called coarbs, but there is nothing in 
the abbot or coarb to indicate whether the personage so 
designated was a bishop, a presbyter, or a layman. Hence 
there can be no continuous catalogue of successive bish- 
ops of Irish sees from Patrick to the present time. The 
synod of Cealcythe, in England, so regarded the succes- 
sion of Irish bishops, and therefore excluded them from 



THE CHUECH OF ST. PATRICK. 219 

their dioceses ; and St. Bernard, in his Life of Malachi, tells 
us how the Irish bishops were regarded on the Continent. 
" There had been introduced," he says, " by the diabolical 
ambition of certain people of rank, a scandalous usage 
whereby the Holy See (Armagh) came to be obtained by 
hereditary succession. For they would allow no persons 
to be promoted to the bishopric except such as were of 
their own tribe and family. Nor was it for any short 
period that this succession had continued, nearly fifteen 
generations having been already exhausted in this course 
of iniquity." The same authority mentions that before 
the time of Celsus eight of these coarbs or successors of 
St. Patrick in Armagh were married and not in orders — 
only laymen. The law of succession throughout Ireland 
was the same everywhere as at Armagh. 

The predominant feature of the early Irish church was its 
monasticism in its primitive type. This was its most essen- 
tial and fundamental quality, which dominated and colored 
everything. It was the keystone in the arch of its ecclesias- 
tical order, the most distinctive note of its life. The whole 
clergy was embraced within the fold of the monastic rule. 
Through the abbots, who were the real heads and rulers of 
the Irish church, the whole church was brought under the 
control of monasticism, molded to its forms, and leavened 
by its spirit. But the primitive church of Ireland was as 
unique and peculiar in its monastic system as we have 
found that it was in other things. 

It is evident from Patrick's own writings that monasti- 
cism existed in the Irish church in his day. Patrick prob- 
ably acquired his idea of this peculiar polity of the church 



220 ^^^ STOBY OF ST. PATRICK. 

from his brethren in Britain, and made it tributary to his 
work and also conformable with the social condition of the 
country. 

The primitive Irish monastery seems to have been in 
some respects unique. As a building it was rude and 
simple. Some chief gave the site, which was often on the 
edge of a forest and had to be cleared of the trees. This 
clearing process was done by monks who learned to be 
expert with the ax, and who often went round with one 
slung over the shoulder. The church, or study, or house 
of prayer, or by whatever name it was called, was rarely 
built of stone, and generally of wood or wattles. Stakes 
were driven into the ground a foot or two apart ; rods or 
wattles were woven between the stakes after the manner 
of basket-makers ; moss was stuffed between the wattles, 
and the whole was plastered with clay. Stone belfries in 
the shape of round towers, as a protection for monks and 
their valuables, were erected when the Danes began to 
ravage the country and to burn the wattled or wooden 
houses. In this rude monastery there was a common room 
in which they took their meals, and off this was a kitchen. 
The monastery was generally built near a stream of water, 
beside which the monks built their mill and a kiln for 
drying corn. Grrouped around the central building were the 
huts, each by itself, in which each monk lived apart. These 
huts were usually constructed as the main building. A 
rampart or circular inclosure made of earth or stone was 
erected for shelter and protection around the whole group 
of huts. The huts varied in number, as accommodations 
were needed for monks and pupils, but few groups num- 



THE CHURCH OF ST. PATRICK. 221 

bered less than one hundred and fifty. But the number 
often rose to several hundred, and sometimes would rise to 
ihousands. There was no limit to the accommodations, 
for whenever a new pupil arrived he would go to the 
neighboring wood, cut down some wattles, and construct 
his hut in a few hours. The students' rooms of those days 
were very different from those in which many of the stu- 
dents of the present day luxuriate. Yet it was in such 
huts, scarcely high enough for a man to stand erect, 
with no light but what entered by the door, and with no 
table but the knee, on which a book could rest, that the 
beautiful Irish manuscripts which are prized so highly in 
Trinity College, Dublin, and in the British Museum, Lon- 
don, were written and illuminated. 

It may be asked. How were these monks sustained, where 
did they find support in a country so poor as Ireland must 
then have been ! 

Their mode of life was simple and abstemious. A sim- 
ple rough garment, a little coarse bread made from the 
corn grown on the patch of ground which their own hands 
cultivated, an ^gg, from the fowl they kept, a few water- 
cresses, and some water satisfied the demands of nature 
and solved the problem of living. We are told that Ere, 
one of Patrick's disciples, lived beside the river Boyne, 
kept a flock of geese, and that half of one of their eggs sus- 
tained him for twenty-four hours. When anything more 
was required than was supplied by their own resources, it 
was obtained gratuitously from the neighborhood. The 
wants of several students were often thus supplied. 

These primitive Irish monasteries were, however, largely 



222 THE STOBY OF ST. PATRICE. 

self-sustaining. Persons of almost every trade and pro- 
fession were f onnd within them. In the " household " of St. 
Patrick we read not only of the judge and the scribe, the 
reader and the singer and the bell-ringer, but of monks 
who devoted themselves to labor with their hands, follow- 
ing husbandry in the fields or mechanical employment 
within doors. We read also of the poet and the brewer 
and the woodsman and the helmsman, of the cook and 
the chamberlain and the shepherd and the miller and the 
charioteer and the smith, and many other artificers, all of 
whom were monks. The society and service of women 
also were utilized in the early period of the Irish monas- 
tery. The monks were not bound to shun intercourse 
with them, but profited by their society and ministrations. 
There were many women there, like Patrick's own sister 
Lupait, who employed their skill in embroidery and in the 
general service of the brotherhood. 

These facts put a very modifying phase on the monastic 
institutions of the early Irish church. They demonstrate 
that the social, industrial, and educational spirit dominated 
them more fully than the monastic. Indeed they should 
be described more as industrial colonies devoted to the 
cultivation of learning and the useful arts and also to re- 
ligion. They somewhat resembled the Shaker communi- 
ties in the United States. One of these schools had seven 
streets of huts occupied by foreigners in the first half of 
the eighth century. 

The course of instruction included twelve years, eight 
of which were devoted to reading and writing the grammar 
of the Irish language, the laws of the privileged classes, be- 



THE CHURCH OF ST. PATRICK. 223 

sides vaticination, etc., the phenomena of nature, the ele- 
ments of philosophy, historical topography, and learning 
by heart about two hundred and seventy tales and a num- 
ber of poems and the secret language of the poets. The 
ninth and tenth years were devoted to composition of 
various kinds of poetry. The eleventh year was employed 
in composing fifty major and fifty minor specimens of 
verse requiring the use of four kinds of meter. The stu- 
dies of the twelfth year consisted in the composition of six 
orations and the study of the art of poetry according to the 
precepts of four different authors. 

Whatever may have been the character of the teaching 
or the value of the outcome, it is the earliest example of 
the cultivation of any vulgar language in Europe. The 
head-master of a school was obliged to go through the 
course just indicated, as well as to know Latin and " from 
the Ten Commandments to the whole of the Scriptures." 

Such a school was connected with a coenoUum — monas- 
tery — and had usually six teachers. The lowest of these 
taught the students to recite the Psalms. The second 
taught the course of native literature just described up to 
the end of the tenth year. The third taught the art of 
poetry and whatever pertains to the expression of the emo- 
tions and the finer feelings. The fourth master taught 
Latin, arithmetic, and the elements of astronomy and 
geography. The fifth master was professor of divinity, 
and the sixth was the head-master, who was supposed to 
know the whole course, both profane and sacred. 

Patrick probably founded several schools of the class 
we have described. The students were called monks be- 



224 T^^ STOEY OF ST. PATRICE. 

cause they led a secluded life. But a young monk in the 
ififth century was a very different man from an old monk 
in the twelfth century. He was in the years of which we 
write a young man preparing to become a missionary. His 
head was shorn over the forehead, and he wore a dress 
peculiar to his class. Patrick did not allow such men to 
take their rest. They must prepare for work in the world, 
and, when prepared, go forth into the great field to sow 
and reap for the Master. 

Patrick often visited these schools, which ought not 
to be called monasteries. Their regulations were very 
different from those of the institutions that are desig- 
nated monasteries in succeeding ages. They were little 
else than would now be prescribed in a college where 
the inmates are required to support themselves. The 
^reat design of these monastic schools was by com- 
municating instruction to train up men for the work of 
the ministry. They were, in fact, the seminaries of the 
church both in North Britain and in Ireland, and when 
Patrick found men in these schools qualified to preach — in 
other words, to tell the simple story of the cross to poor 
ignorant pagans — ^he ordained them as a matter of neces- 
sity. He was a bishop in this sense, that he was the 
church's superintendent — he had on him " the care of all 
the churches " as they were organized ; but there is no 
evidence to show that he ever was the pastor of more 
than one church, or that he had a diocese and an array of 
clergy under him. 

The condition of things was peculiar. The success of 
Patrick as a missionary was something wonderful, and 



THE CHURCH OF ST. PATRICK. 225 

he did in these extraordinary circumstances what no 
man would be justified in doing in an ordinary settled 
condition of things. The church that grew up under his 
labors was monastic in its character, and yet its monastery 
was not the abode of the " monk," as that word is under- 
stood by us now. It was the resort of the missionary — 
his study, where he prepared for preaching the gospel. It 
may have been at first a refuge from enemies, or a resort 
for prayer. 

This monastery developed, as converts increased, into a 
school, college, or church. It became the fixed abode for 
studious men — a religious center where the people flocked 
for worship, teaching, and consolation. And in course of 
time a town grew up, along whose streets houses were 
built for schools and seminaries for preparing young men 
to preach the gospel. 

One other peculiarity of this early church must be noted. 
The whole church was under the rule of the monks, and 
the monks in turn, and the whole monastic system, were 
dominated and modified by the spirit of clanship which 
then reigned supreme over Irish society. The monasteries 
were indeed only clans, reorganized under a religious form ; 
and from this resulted the extraordinary number of their 
inhabitants, which were counted by hundreds and thou- 
sands, and their influence and productiveness, which were 
still more wonderful. 

These Irish monasteries were famous for the service 
rendered by them to the cause of education, and for their 
service as centers and sources of missionary enterprise. 
The youth of the tribe were sent to these monasteries, as 



226 , ^^^ STORY OF ST, PATRICK. 

educational establishments where they received a secular 
education and were trained to monastic life. Besides the 
monks, each institution had a body of young people who 
became inmates for the purposes mentioned, and the num- 
ber of these, even in the smaller institutions, was usually 
fifty, and in the larger a much greater number. To these 
institutions not only the better classes in Ireland resorted, 
but even the middle classes and nobility of England sent 
their sons to be educated. They resorted thither to study 
the Word of Grod, to practise the duties of monastic life, 
and to devote themselves to the study of general literature, 
going for this purpose from one master's cell to another. 

Not only from Britain did students flock to these Irish 
schools, but from all parts of Europe, so great was the 
repute for learning which Ireland obtained, and so great 
her fame for ardent, independent thought. 

Nor were these Irish monasteries more renowned for 
their seminaries of learning than for the missionary enter- 
prise which they inspired — for the bands of great mission- 
aries whom they sent forth, who carried their peculiar type 
of Christianity to Scotland, England, and over the broad 
continent of Europe. This showed the vitality and vigor 
of the religion possessed by this primitive Irish church. 
It was her own kindred, too, across the channel on the 
opposite coasts and islands of North Britain that first 
awoke her sympathy and to whom she first sent her sons 
with the tidings of salvation. It is said that her first mis- 
sionary was Brendan, who at his ordination was greatly 
impressed with the words of our Lord in Luke xviii. 29, 
and that he resolved to live in the spirit of them. The 



THE CHURCH OF ST. PATBICK. 227 

words are these : " Yerily I say unto you, There is no man 
that hath left honse, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or 
children, for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not re- 
ceive manifold more in this present time, and in the world 
to come life everlasting." He accordingly went to the 
Western Islands, and planted these primitive monasteries 
there and through Scotland and the surrounding isles, as 
Columba did afterward ; others following them and doing 
a similar work — evangelizing Can tyre and settling in lona, 
and from that as a basis of operation evangelizing the 
Northern Picts and establishing a thousand institutions 
like that of lona, so that it has been said that, were bon- 
fires kindled on a winter night on the hills adjacent to the 
institutions which these missionaries founded, there would 
be a complete chain of lights visible one to another from 
the Humber to the Orkneys, and from Aberdeenshire to 
the remotest of the Hebrides. But these missionaries car- 
ried the gospel to the Continent — to Switzerland and Italy ; 
some of them labored among the East Angles, and after- 
ward in France ; others in Bavaria, Friesland, and West- 
phalia. But the story of these missions is too long, and is 
not included in the purpose for which this book is written ; 
enough, however, has been unfolded to show what vast re- 
sults may follow the sowing of the seed of Grod's Word in 
one mind, even though that mind may appear very unpropi- 
tious soil, and though that seed may lie dormant for many 
years. "There shall be a handful of corn in the earth 
upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall 
shake like Lebanon." 



CHAPTER XXXI. 



CONCLUSION. 



The Bible 

. . . Stands like the cerulean arch we see, 
Majestic in its own simplicity ; 
Inscribed above the portals from afar, 
Conspicuous as the brightness of a star. 
Legible only by the light they give, 
Shine the soul-quickening words — 
" Believe and live." 

In concluding this sketch of the church founded by St. 
Patrick we must not omit to state that while monasticism 
as then practised was very different from what it after- 
ward claimed as its peculiarities, so also was it in the case 
of the bishops. 

Bishop and presbyter were undoubtedly originally but 
different names for one office, and the distinction between 
them was a matter of human arrangement ; the superiorit}^ 
of the former over the latter was developed after the days 
of the apostles " little by little," and in some countries more 
slowly than in others. The primitive relation of presbyter 
and bishop was interchangeable. As the former was of 
Jewish origin and presided over Jewish communities, so 
the latter was of Gentile origin and presided over G-entile 

228 



CONCLUSION. 229 

communities; and when the distinction between Jewish 
and Gentile communities began to fade away, the two sets 
of offices, fulfilling as they did analogous functions, were 
regarded as having equivalent rank. This point has been 
conceded by almost all important writers upon the subject 
in both ancient and modern times. 

According to the eminent Dr. Lightfoot, that great his- 
torian of the Church of England, in the beginnings of 
Christianity the Episcopalian bishop and the Presbyte- 
rian elder not only walked under the same umbrella, 
but walked under the same hat — they were the same indi- 
vidual. In no other way is the constitution of the old 
Irish church as founded by St. Patrick capable of expla- 
nation. It is asserted by two recent writers that Patrick 
was constituted a bishop in Ireland ; but by whom he was 
ordained, or in what circumstances, is not explained; and 
who his ordainers were, or what was their canonical right 
to officiate, nobody can now say. And although we have 
it from himself that Patrick was a bishop, there is no his- 
torical evidence whatever as to the time, place, persons, or 
circumstances under which he was ordained. Who, there- 
fore, can prove that his ordination was canonical, or that he 
was ordained at all ? The diocesan bishop was a growth 
from a primacy of influence based upon merit and local 
advantages into a primacy based upon a theory founded 
on a series of historical assumptions. This growth is the 
sole basis of the historic episcopate, and to claim that 
diocesan episcopacy originated in the apostolate of the 
Saviour is one of the sublime religious farces that some- 
times take hold upon men, and which a portion of credu- 



230 T^^ STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

lous humanity accepts as a fact. This would constitute a 
religious wonder, were it not remembered that there was 
a dispute among the immediate disciples of Jesus who 
should be the greatest. The historic episcopate is a per- 
sonal pious opinion which has no historic value. The 
local church up to nearly the close of the second century 
preserved much of its primitive usages ; traces of a written 
liturgy then are scanty and vague. The Lord's Supper 
and the " love-feast " were observed in close affinity. In- 
fant baptism had not wholly displaced immersion. The 
bishop was not yet sharply distinguished from the pres- 
byter, nor the presbyter and deacon from the lay brother. 
But the lowering of the average tone of piety among the 
laity threw into stronger relief the virtues of the clergy, 
and enabled them with a good show of justice and neces- 
sity to claim exclusive possession of powers which had 
originally been shared by all male members of the church. 
f The early Irish church undoubtedly had peculiarities 
without parallel in other churches. In various important 
particulars no modern church can claim to resemble it or 
reproduce it. As Patrick stands out by himself in history, 
as a personality distinct and peculiar in some respects 
from all other persons, so was the church which through 
his agency was organized and established in Ireland one 
that differed in some of its aspects from all other churches. 
It was not Romish either in its teaching or in its govern- 
ment. It is most likely that Patrick did not trouble him- 
self much about the framework of the church, or what the 
church might be denominated. "What were his views on 
church polity is very uncertain. He probably esteemed it 



CONCLUSION. 231 

his great work to preach the gospel and to make converts 
to the Christian faith. 

Ireland, we read, was in Patrick's day Ml of " village 
bishops." In one county, that of Meath, there were nearly 
thirty bishops ; at one period there were three hundred 
bishops in the kingdom: so we may reasonably conclude 
that parochial bishops were the only ones known to the 
primitive Christianity of Ireland. Every parish was a 
diocese, and the pastor of every church was a bishop. 

Patrick, as we have seen, had many young men as stu- 
dents and helpers. They were in this way trained for 
missionary work. It was not necessary to send them far 
away to be educated. Ireland itself was then the great 
seat of learning. Anglo-Saxons flocked to Ireland as to 
the great mart of learning, and this is the reason why we 
find this saying so often in English writers, " Such an one 
was sent over into Ireland to be educated." It had in this 
excited the envy of England, and gave rise to the sarcas- 
tic question of an English abbot, "Why should Ireland, 
whither students are transplanted in troops by fleets, be 
exalted with such unspeakable advantages ? " 

The rapid extension and singular prosperity of the early 
Irish church are to be attributed in no small degree to its 
freedom from foreign control and to the simplicity of its 
system of church government. Bishops, as all preachers 
and pastors were then usually called, were appointed with- 
out consulting any one outside of Ireland. In things 
spiritual and ecclesiastical its church refused obedience to 
any civil or spiritual power, holding that the Lord Jesus is 
the sole King and Head of his church. 



232 THE STOBY OF ST. PATRICK. 

The principal features of the church organized by 
Patrick were therefore in many respects quite unique. 
The men whom he ordained aiid sent forth were more 
like our evangelists, going everywhere preaching, organ- 
izing churches, administering the sacraments, and doing 
from necessity whatever was necessary to be done. It was 
necessary to have a strong force of evangelists, mission- 
aries, traveling preachers, and superintendents of schools 
in the field, and Patrick thought it important that they all 
should be on an equal footing with himself. He called him- 
self, as we have said, bishop, and these all were bishops. 
His rule was to place over every church a pastor who was 
in of&ce equal to himself. Hence a reliable historian 
says that Patrick founded three hundred and sixty-five 
churches and placed over them three hundred and sixty- 
five bishops. These bishops, however, were evangelists 
as well as pastors, going round preaching, gaining con- 
verts, and gathering these converts into churches. Patrick 
must have exercised a very great influence over the Irish 
church. He had a splendid gift of management. He was 
able to keep all the forces at work, and the church grew, 
extended, and became a vast power not only in Ireland, 
but in the world. 

Thus the work of church extension, commenced on a 
large scale by Patrick, was carried on by faithful followers 
until, before the beginning of the ninth century, the whole 
land had been studded with churches, colleges, and scrip- 
tural schools, and Irish Christians were famous over Eu- 
rope for learning, piety, and missionary zeal. Ireland was 
regarded at this period throughout Europe as the great 



CONCLUSION. 233 

school of the West and an isle of saints. There is no 
indication in Patrick's writings that he recognized any 
authority in creeds, however venerable, nor in councils^ 
though composed of many hundreds of the most godly 
men. He does not call any special attention to that part 
of his " Confession " which evidently contains his creed. 
It stands with the same claims to respect as the account of 
his conversion, of his missionary call to Ireland, of his 
strong desire to save men, or of Grod's frequent answers to 
his prayers. His great appeal was to Scripture. Prom- 
ises, commands, prohibitions, heart exercises, prayers, the 
condition of men around — all these things and many others 
stirred up Patrick not to refer to councils or ancient 
creeds but to Scripture. His own views and sentiments 
regarding the Bible are evidently expressed in the follow- 
ing paragraph, of a very ancient date ; whether it emanated 
from the pen of Patrick or not is uncertain : 

" One of the noble gifts of the Holy Spirit is the divine 
Scripture, whereby every ignorance is enlightened, every 
earthly distress is comforted, every spiritual light i& 
kindled, and every weakness is strengthened. For it is 
through the Holy Scripture that heresies and schisms are 
cast forth from the church. In it is found perfect counsel 
and fitting instruction by each and every grade in the 
church. For the divine Scripture is a mother and gentle 
nurse to all the faithful ones who meditate upon it, and 
consider it, and are nurtured until they are chosen sons of 
God through its counsel." 

It is undoubtedly true that several old pagan customs and 
superstitions were allowed, and only modified to Christiai> 



234 TEE STOEY OF ST. PATRICK. 

uses, and that the monastic spirit which from the first 
seemed to be a prominent element in the Irish church was 
a leaven essentially at variance with New Testament Chris- 
tianity ; and these defects worked toward the deterioration 
of the Irish church soon after the death of Patrick, causing 
her to become less evangelical and more superstitious, and 
to relapse into many of her old pagan ways, and this in pro- 
portion as she came under Eoman domination ; and among 
the native Irish to this day many of the old pagan obser- 
vances continue. From the very start, Christianity was in 
many cases only paganism baptized ; the very fact that 
whole clans and even tribes followed the lead of their chiefs 
and were baptized as persons who renounced paganism and 
■accepted Christianity demonstrates that mere formalism 
prevailed among vast numbers of these converts — in name 
€hristian, but in knowledge and often in practice only 
pagan. The tendency, also, to a belief in miracles per- 
formed by the monks and some of the " saints " shows how 
the leaven of paganism still continued to work among the 
people. Patrick, in his genuine writings, never hints at 
possessing miraculous powers, but the monks who cen- 
turies after his death wrote biographies of him repre- 
sented him as an adept in the performance of all kinds of 
miracles and wonders. Many of these monks also retained 
much of the passionate, revengeful, implacable spirit that 
has always characterized the Celtic race, and which some- 
times so dominated their lives that pitched battles were 
fought between monasteries, in which many were slain ; 
and synods were held in which the members appeared as 
armed men, and often severe deadly struggles occurred 
b)efore controversies were settled. In the carrying out of 



CONCLUSION. 235 

the erroneous adage that we may do evil that good may 
come, the monks did not hesitate to equivocate, deceive, and 
lie, if by such conduct they could gain their end. They did 
not seem to think that Christianity required them to live 
truthful, honest, upright lives, and to pursue " whatsoever 
things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever 
things are just, whatsoever things are pure, and whatso- 
ever things are lovely." Into this low condition did Irish 
Christianity gradually lapse as the years passed after Pat- 
rick's death, and as paganism regained its foothold and 
Eomanism increased in its domination. The heads of the 
monasteries in time came to wield an immense influence, 
and that influence, it could easily be shown, was so used 
as to inflict an irreparable injury on the best civil inter- 
ests of Ireland. Princes and kings were compelled to cul- 
tivate their good- will, and dared not thwart the wishes of 
the heads of the monasteries, who controlled the people 
east and west, north and south. These monks in time 
wrought desolation in the land and prepared it for the 
crushing heel of Eome. 

It seemed for a time, during Patrick's day and for some 
time afterward, as if the course of the world's history was 
to be changed, and as if Celtic and not Latin Christianity 
was to mold the destiny of the churches of the West. This 
was one of the greatest changes this world has ever seen. 
And be it remembered that all these magnificent results 
were brought about by the labors of missionaries who could 
trace historically their Christian faith to the conversion of 
that herdboy Patrick on the side of that Slemish mount. 

Beautiful Ireland, gem of the sea! once the resort of 
students, the home of scholars, the abode of poetry, the 



236 ^^^ STOBY OF ST. PATRICK. 

nursery of orators, the light of Europe, the isle of saints 
— and that, thou wouldst have continued to be, had the 
church of St. Patrick never been overthrown. 

Such is a brief story of St. Patrick, whose name, after 
the lapse of fourteen hundred years, is as fresh as the 
shamrock and as green as the emerald. 



Erin's Old Song of Peace, 

O'er the green hills of Erin 

The old winds wander on, 
In calm or storm still singing 

The song of ages gone ; 
Sweetly that song is swelling. 

In strains all soft and low. 
The hymn of holier ages. 

The psalm of long ago — 

Peace, peace, from Grod to men, 
Good- will, good-will. Amen ! 

Through the green vales of Erin 

Pours the glad lay of love — 
The love that passeth knowledge, 

Descending from above ; 
The love of Him who bought us, 

And sought us in our sin ; 
The long-shut gate who opens. 

And bids us enter in. 

Peace, peace, from God to men, 
Good- will, good- will. Amen ! 

Through the blue skies of Erin 

The mighty melody 
Steals, with its glorious tidings 

Of all things true and free ; 
Of chains forever broken. 

Of life and freedom won ; 



CONCLUSION. 237 

The sighs of exile ended, 
Captivity undone. 

Peace, peace, from God to men, 
Good-will, good- will. Amen ! 

Bright hills of ancient Erin, 

Grow brighter, balmier still ; 
And with your mellow music 

The listening valleys fill — 
The heaven-begotten music. 

Whose cadences are peace. 
Whose chimes of soothing sweetness 

Shall never, never cease. 

Peace, peace, from God to men. 
Good- will, good-will. Amen ! 

Fair peaks of emerald Erin, 

See Scotland's glens afar, 
Gleaming across the ocean, 

Beneath the same dear star ! 
One star o'er both is gleaming. 

One hope to both is given. 
One love o'er both is bending — 

The pardoning love of Heaven ! 
Peace, peace, from God to men, 
Good-will, good-will. Amen ! 

They greet each other gladly. 

These island sisters fair ; 
And with each other freely 

The heavenly tidings share. 
True daughters of the ocean. 

Each clasps the other's hand, 
To give and take the welcome 

Of the one Fatherland. 

Peace, peace, from God to men, 
Good-will, good-will. Amen! 

Though Tara's harp lies broken. 
And Tara's halls are dumb. 



238 ^^^ STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

Though Tara's minstrel voices 

Are silent as the tomb, 
A sweeter harp is swelling 

Through Erin's pensive skies, 
And truer bards are chanting 
The song that never dies — 

Peace, peace, from God to men, 
Good- will, good-will. Amen ! 

Eound the old manger-cradle 

We gather hand in hand ; 
Beneath one Cross we shelter ; 

Upon one Eock we stand ; 
One holy faith is knitting 

The kindred West and East ; 
One Christ the blessed center ; 

One table for our feast. 

Peace, peace, from God to men, 
Good- will, good-will. Amen ! 

One Pilot through the breakers. 

One port to all is given ; 
One love our hope and refuge — 

The boundless love of Heaven ! 
'Tis love to man the sinner. 

Free love to earth undone ; 
The love that knows no quenching — 

The love of God's dear Son. 

Peace, peace, from God to men. 
Good- will, good- will. Amen ! 

One everlasting gospel 

Shines out before our eyes, 
One temple and one altar. 

One perfect Sacrifice ! 
O sons of men sore-burdened 

With sin's oppressive load, 
Of Erin and of Scotland, 

" Behold the Lamb of God ! " 

Peace, peace, from God to men. 
Good- will, good- will. Amen ! 

HOKATIUS BONAK. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

THE "confession" OF ST. PATKICK. 

Memorials of the Dead. 

We gather up with pious care 

What happy saints have left behind, 

Their writings in our memory bear, 
Their sayings on our faithful mind. 

Their works which, traced them to the skies 
For patterns to ourselves we take, 

And dearly love and highly prize 
The mantle for the wearer's sake. 

C. Wesley. 

The avowed object of the "Confession" was to show 
why Patrick felt called to preach the gospel to the Irish 
people ; to declare that he was not sent by man, but by the 
Lord; to furnish evidence that God had approved of his 
mission and labors ; to record some of his experiences ; to 
"make known God's grace and everlasting consolation, 
and to spread the knowledge of God's name in the earth. 
He wished in his old age to leave it on record after his 
death for his sons whom he had baptized in the Lord." 
The "Confession" has an honest face and good credentials. 
Neither it nor either of his other writings is entirely free 
from errors, but all are scriptural in their general character. 

239 



240 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

There are no quotations from the "fathers," but many 
from the inspired writings. They all abound in simple 
statements of gospel truth. The Scriptures are treated 
with deep reverence as infallible and sufficient, and no 
authority is appealed to but that of the written Word. 
The true coin is distinguished from the cheap counterfeit, 
and by these ancient documents we are guided to some 
knowledge of the life, the labors, and doctrines of Patrick. 
Whoever adopts the religion of Patrick will go to the 
Word of God as the only authority in matters of faith, 
and the only source of light to guide him in the way of 
life. It was the principles of the Bible alone that con- 
trolled him in the labors that made his name renowned, 
and that made him one of the noblest Christian mission- 
aries our world has ever seen. 

THE "confession" OF PATKICK. 

I. 

" Patrick, a sinner, the rudest and least of all the faithful, 
and most contemptible to very many, had for my father 
Calpornius, a deacon, a son of Potitus, a presbyter, who 
dwelt in the village of Bannavem Taberniae, for he had a 
small farm hard by the place where I was taken captive. 
I was then nearly sixteen years of age. I did not know 
the true God ; and I was taken to Ireland in captivity with 
so many thousand men, in accordance with our deserts, 
because we kept not his precepts, and were not obedient 
to our priests who admonished us for our salvation. 

"And the Lord brought down upon us the wrath of his 



THE "CONFESSION" OF ST. PATRICE. 241 

indignation, and dispersed us among many nations, even 
to the end of the earth, where now my littleness is seen 
among foreigners. And there the Lord opened (to me) 
the sense of my unbelief, that, though late, I might re- 
member my sins, and that I might return with my whole 
heart to the Lord my God, who had respect to my humilia- 
tion, and pitied my youth and ignorance, and took care of 
me before I knew him and before I had wisdom or could 
discern between good and evil, and protected me, and com- 
forted me as a father does a son. 

"2. Wherefore I cannot keep silent — nor is it indeed 
expedient (to do so) — concerning such great behests and 
such great favor as the Lord has vouchsafed to me in the 
land of my captivity ; because this is our recompense (to 
him), that after our chastening or knowledge of Grod we 
should exalt and confess his wonderful works before every 
nation that is under the whole heaven. 

" Because there is no other Grod, neither ever was, neither 
before, nor shall be hereafter, except Grod the Father, un- 
begotten, without beginning; from whom is all begin- 
ning ; upholding all things, as we have said ; and his Son 
Jesus Christ, whom indeed, with the Father, we testify to 
have always been, before the origin of the world, spiri- 
tually with the Father ; in an inexplicable manner begotten 
before all beginning ; and by himself were made the things 
visible and invisible; and was made man; (and) death 
having been vanquished, was received into the heavens to 
the Father. 

"And he has given to him all power above every name of 
those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, 



242 THE STOBY OF ST. PATRICK. 

that every tongue should confess to him, that Jesus Christ 
is Lord and Grod, in whom we believe, and expect (his) 
coming, to be ere long the Judge of the living and of the 
dead, who will render to every one according to his deeds. 
And he hath poured upon us abundantly the Holy Spirit, 
a gift and pledge of immortality, who makes the faithful 
and obedient to become sons of Grod and joint heirs with 
Christ ; whom we confess and adore — one God in the Holy 
Trinity of the sacred name. 

" For he himself has said by the prophet, ^ Call upon me 
in the day of thy tribulation, and I will deliver thee, and 
thou shalt magnify me.' And again he saith, ' It is hon- 
orable to reveal and confess the works of God.' 

" 3. Although I am in many respects imperfect, I wish my 
brethren and acquaintances to know my disposition, that 
they may be able to comprehend the wish of my soul. I 
am not ignorant of the testimony of my Lord, who wit- 
nesses in the psalm, ^ Thou shalt destroy those that speak 
a lie.' And again, ' The mouth that belieth killeth the 
soul.' And the same Lord says in the gospel, *The idle 
word that men shall speak, they shall render an account 
for it in the day of judgment.' Therefore I ought ear- 
nestly, with fear and trembling, to dread this sentence in 
that day, when no one shall be able to withdraw himself 
or to hide, but we all together shall render an account of 
even the smallest of our sins before the tribunal of the 
Lord Jesus. 

" Wherefore I thought of writing long ago, but hesitated 
even till now ; because I feared falling into the tongue of 
men; because I have not learned like others who have 



THE "CONFESSION" OF ST. PATRICK. 243 

drunk in, in tlie best manner, both law and sacred litera- 
ture in both ways equally, and have never changed their 
language from infancy, but have always added more to 
its perfection. For our language and speech is translated 
into a foreign tongue. 

" 4. As can be easily proved from the drivel of my writ- 
ing, how I have been instructed and learned in diction ; 
because the wise man says, ^For by the tongue is dis- 
cerned understanding and knowledge and the teaching of 
truth.' But what avails an excuse, (although) according 
to truth, especially when accompanied with presumption ? 
Since, indeed, I myself now, in my old age, strive after 
what I did not learn in my youth, because they prevented 
me from learning thoroughly that which I had read 
through before. But who believes me although I should 
say as I have already said ? When a youth, nay almost a 
boy in words, I was taken captive, before I knew what I 
ought to seek, or what I ought to aim at, or what I ought 
to avoid. Hence I blush to-day, and greatly fear to expose 
my unskilfulness, because, not being eloquent, I cannot 
express myself with clearness and brevity, nor even as the 
spirit moves, and the mind and endowed understanding 
point out. 

" But if it had been granted to me even as to others, I 
would not, however, be silent, because of the recompense. 
And if, perhaps, it appears to some that I put myself for- 
ward in this matter with my ignorance and slower tongue, 
it is, however, written, ' Stammering tongues shall learn 
quickly to speak peace.' How much more ought we to 
aim at this — we who are the ' epistle of Christ ' for salva- 



244 ^^^ STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

tion even to the end of tlie earth — and if not eloquent, yet 
powerful and very strong — written in your hearts, 'not 
with ink,' it is testified, 'but by the Spirit of the living 
GodM 

" 5. And again the Spirit testifies, ' and husbandry was 
ordained by the Most High.' Therefore I, first a rustic, 
a fugitive, unlearned, indeed not knowing how to provide 
for the future — but I know this most certainly, that before 
I was humbled I was like a stone lying in deep mud ; and 
He who is mighty came, and in his own mercy raised me 
and placed me on the top of the wall. 

" And hence I ought loudly to cry out, and return also 
something to the Lord for his so great mercies, here and 
in eternity, which benefits the minds of men cannot esti- 
mate. But, therefore, be ye astonished, both great and 
small, who fear Grod. And ye rhetoricians who do not 
know the Lord, hear and examine: who aroused me, a 
fool, from the midst of those who appear to be wise, and 
skilled in laws, and powerful in speech and in every mat- 
ter? And me — who am detested by this world — he has 
inspired me beyond others (if indeed I be such), but on 
condition that with fear and reverence and without com- 
plaining I should faithfully serve the nation to which the 
love of Christ has transferred me, and given me for my 
life, if I should be worthy; that, in fine, I should serve 
them with humility and in truth. 

II. 

" In the measure, therefore, of the faith of the Trinity, it 
behooves me to distinguish, without shrinking from dan- 



THE ''CONFESSION'' OF ST. PATRICK. 245 

ger, to make known the gift of God and his everlasting 
consolation, and without fear to spread faithfully every- 
where the name of Grod, in order that after my death I 
may leave it as a bequest to my brethren and to my sons, 
whom I have baptized in the Lord — so many thousand 
men. And I was not worthy that the Lord should grant 
this to his servant; that after going through afflictions 
and so many difficulties, after captivity, after many years, 
he should grant me so great favor among that nation, 
which when I was yet in my youth I never hoped for nor 
thought of. 

" But after I had come to Ireland I daily used to feed 
cattle, and I prayed frequently during the day; the love 
of God and the fear of him increased more and more, and 
faith became stronger, and the spirit was stirred ; so that 
in one day I said about a hundred prayers, and in the 
night the same ; so that I used even to remain in the 
woods and in the mountain ; before daylight I used to rise 
to prayer, through snow, through frost, through rain, and 
I felt no harm ; nor was there any slothfulness in me, as I 
now perceive, because the spirit was then fervent within 
me. 

"And there indeed, one night in my sleep, I heard a voice 
saying to me, ^ Thou fastest well ; fasting so, thou shalt 
soon go to thy country.' And again, after a very short 
time, I heard a response saying to me, ' Behold, thy ship 
is ready.' And it was not near, but perhaps two hundred 
miles away, and I never had been there, nor was I ac- 
quainted with any of the men there. 

" 7. After this I took flight, and left the man with whom 



246 T^^ STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

I had been six years ; and I came in the strength of the 
Lord, who directed my way for good ; and I feared noth- 
ing till I arrived at that ship. And on that same day on 
which I arrived the ship moved out of its place, and I 
asked them, the sailors, that I might go away and sail with 
them. And it displeased the captain, and he answered 
sharply, with indignation, ' Do not by any means seek to 
go with us.' And when I heard this I separated myself 
from them in order to go to the hut where I lodged. 

"And on the way I began to pray, and before I had ended 
my prayer I heard one of them, and he was calling loudly 
after me, ^ Come quickly, for these men are calling you.' 
And immediately I returned to them, and they began to 
say to me, ^ Come, for we receive you in good faith ; make 
friendship with us in whatever way you wish.' And in 
that day I accordingly disdained to make friendship with 
them, on account of the fear of Grod. But in very deed I 
hoped of them that they would come into the faith of 
Jesus Christ, because they were heathen. And on account 
of this I clave to them. And we sailed immediately. 

" 8. After three days we reached land, and for twenty- 
eight days we made our journey through a desert. And 
food failed them, and hunger prevailed over them. And 
one day the captain began to say to me, *What is it, 
Christian! You say that Grod is great and almighty; 
why, therefore, canst thou not pray for us, for we are per- 
ishing with hunger ? For it will be a difficult matter for 
us ever again to see any human being.' But I said to 
them plainly, ' Turn with faith to the Lord my Grod, to 



TRE "CONFESSION" OF ST. PATRICE. 247 

whom nothing is impossible, that he may send food this 
day for us in your path, even till you are satisfied, for it 
abounds everywhere with him.' And Grod assisting, it so 
came to pass. Behold, a herd of swine appeared in the 
path before our eyes, and my companions killed many of 
them, and remained there two nights, much refreshed. 
And their dogs were filled, for many of them had fainted 
and were left half dead along the way. And after that 
they gave the greatest thanks to God ; and I was honored 
in their eyes. 

" 9. From that day forth they had food in abundance. 
They also found wild honey, and offered me a part of it. 
And one of them said, ^ It has been offered in sacrifice.' 
Thanks to God, I consequently tasted none of it. But 
the same night while I was sleeping and Satan greatly 
tempted me, in a way in which I shall remember as long 
as I am in this body. And he fell upon me like a huge 
rock, and I had no power in my limbs save that it came to 
me into my mind that I should call out ^ Helias.' And in 
that moment I saw the sun rise in the heaven ; and while 
I was crying out ^ Helias ' with all my might, behold, the 
splendor of that sun fell upon me and at once removed 
the weight from me. And I believe I was aided by Christ 
my Lord, and his Spirit was then crying out for me ; and 
I hope likewise that it will be thus in the days of my op- 
pression, as the Lord says in the gospel, ^It is not you 
that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh 
in you.' 



248 ^^^ STOEY OF ST. PATRICK. 

in. 

" 10. And again after many years I was taken captive 
once more. On that first night, therefore, I remained with 
them. But I heard a divine response saying to me, ' But 
for two months thou shalt be with them,' which accord- 
ingly came to pass. On that sixtieth night the Lord de- 
Hvered me out of their hands. 

" Even on our journey he provided for us food and fire 
and dry weather every day, till on the fourteenth day we 
all arrived. As I stated before, we pursued our journey 
for twenty-eight days through the desert, and the very 
night on which we arrived we had no food left. 

"And again, after a few years, I was in the Britains with 
my parents, who received me as a son, and earnestly be- 
sought me that now, at least, after the many hardships I 
had endured, I would never leave them again. And then 
I saw indeed, in the bosom of the night, a man coming as 
it were from Ireland, Victorious by name, with innume- 
rable letters, and he gave one of them to me. And I read 
the beginning of the letter containing ' The Voice of the 
Irish.' And while I was reading aloud the beginning of 
the letter, I myself thought indeed in my mind that I 
heard the voice of those who were near the wood of Foc- 
lut, which is close by the western sea. And they cried out 
thus as if with one voice : ^ We entreat thee, holy youth, 
that thou come and henceforth walk among us.' And I 
was deeply moved in my heart and could read no farther, 
and so I awoke. Thanks be to Grod that after very many 
years the Lord granted to them according to their cry ! 



THE "CONFESSION" OF ST. PATRICK. 249 

" 11. And on another night, I know not — God knows — 
whether in me or near me, with most eloquent words, 
which I heard and could not understand, except at the end 
of the speech, one spoke as follows : ' He who gave his life 
for thee is he who speaks in thee,' and so I awoke full of 
joy. And again I saw him praying in me, and I was as it 
were within my body, and I heard above me, that is, above 
the inner man, and there he was praying mightily with 
groanings. And meanwhile I was stupefied and aston- 
ished, and pondered who it could be that was praying in 
me. But at the end of the prayer he so spoke as if he 
were the Spirit. And so I awoke and remembered that 
the Apostle says, ^ The Spirit helps the infirmities of our 
prayers. For we know not what we should pray for as 
we ought, but the Spirit himself asketh for us with un- 
speakable groanings which cannot be expressed in words.* 
And again he says, ^ The Lord is our Advocate and prays 
for us.' 

"And when I was attacked by some of my seniors, who 
came and urged my sins against my laborious episcopate, 
so that on that day I was strongly driven to fall away, here 
and forever. But the Lord spared a proselyte and stranger 
for his name's sake. He kindly and mightily aided me in 
this treading-under, because in the stain and disgrace I 
did not come out badly. I pray Grod that it be not reck- 
oned to them as an occasion of sin. For after thirty years 
they found me, and brought against me a word which I 
had confessed before I was deacon. 

" 12. Under anxiety, and with a troubled mind, I told my 
most intimate friend what I had one day done in my boy- 



250 THE STORY OF ST. PATBICK. 

Jiood, in one hour, because I was not then used to over- 
come. I know not — Grod knows — whether I was then fifteen 
years of age, and I did not believe in the living Grod from 
my infancy ; but I remained in death and unbelief until I 
was severely chastised ; and in truth I have been humbled 
by hunger and nakedness, and that daily. On the other 
hand, I did not of my own accord go to Ireland until I 
was almost worn out. But that was rather good for me, 
that I should be filled with care and be concerned for the 
salvation of others ; since at that time I did not think even 
about myself. 

" Then on that day on which I was reproached for the 
things above mentioned, on that night I saw in a vision 
of the night a writing against me, without honor. And at 
the same time I heard a response saying to me, ^ We have 
seen with displeasure the face of the designate with his 
name stripped.' He did not say, ^You have seen with 
displeasure,' but ' We have seen with displeasure,' as if 
lie had joined himself to me, as he has said, ^He that 
toucheth you is he that toucheth the apple of mine eye.' 
Therefore I will give thanks to him that comforted me in 
all things, that he did not hinder me from the journey on 
which I had resolved, and also from my work which I had 
of Christ my Lord. But the more from that time I felt in 
myself no little power, and my faith was approved before 
God and men. 

" 13. But on this account I boldly assert that my con- 
science does not reprove me now or for the future. ' Grod 
is my witness ' that I have not lied in the statements I 
have made to you. But I am the more sorry for my very 



THE " CONFESSION'' OF ST. PATRICK. 251 

dear friend, to whom I trusted even my life, that we 
should have deserved to hear such a response. And I as- 
certained from several brethren before the defense that I 
was not present, nor in Britain, nor did it originate with 
me. Even he in my absence made a fight for me. Even 
he had said to me with his own mouth, ' Behold, thou art 
to be promoted to the rank of bishop ' — of which I was 
not worthy. But whence, then, did it occur to him that 
before all, good and bad, he should publicly put discredit 
upon me, although he had before of his own accord gladly 
conceded that honor to me ! It is the Lord who is greater 
than all. 

" I have said enough. But, however, I ought not to hide 
the gift of Grod which he bestowed upon us in the land of 
my captivity, for then I earnestly sought him and there I 
found him, and he preserved me from all iniquities, so I 
believe, because of his Spirit that dwelleth in me, which 
has wrought in me boldly even to this day. But Grod 
knows, if a man had spoken this to me I might have been 
silent for the love of Christ. 

" 14. Wherefore I give unwearied thanks to my Grod, who 
has kept me faithful in the day of my temptation; so 
that I may to-day confidently offer my soul to Christ my 
Lord, as a sacrifice, ^ a living victim ; ' who saved me 
from all my difficulties, so that I may say, Who am I, 
Lord, and what is my vocation, that to me thou hast 
cooperated by such divine grace with me 1 So that to-day 
I can constantly rejoice among the Grentiles and magnify 
thy name wherever I may be, not only in prosperity but 
also in distresses; that whatever may happen to me. 



252 ^^^ STOBY OF ST. PATRICK. 

whether good or evil, I ought to receive it equally, and 
always to give thanks to Grod, who has shown me that I 
should helieve in him, the indubitable One, without ceas- 
ing, and that he will hear me ; and that I, though ignorant, 
may in these last days approach this work, so pious and 
so wonderful ; that I may imitate some of those of whom 
the Lord before, long ago, predicted that they should 
preach his gospel, for a testimony to all nations, before 
the end of the world. Which, therefore, has been so ful- 
filled as we have seen. Behold, we are witnesses that the 
gospel has been preached everywhere, in places where 
there is no man beyond. 

IV. 

" 15. But it would be long to relate all my labor in details, 
or even in part. Briefly, I may tell how the most holy Grod 
often delivered me from slavery, and from twelve dangers 
by which my life was imperiled, besides many snares and 
things which I cannot express in words, neither would I 
give trouble to my readers. But there is Grod the Author 
of all, who knew all things before they came to pass. 

" So, however, the divine response very frequently ad- 
monished me, this poor pupil. Whence came this wisdom 
to me, which was not in me, I who neither knew the num- 
ber of my days, nor was acquainted with God ? Whence 
came to me afterward the gift so great, so beneficial, to 
know Grod, or to love him, that I should love country and 
parents, and many gifts which were offered to me with 
weeping and tears? And, moreover, I offended against 
my wish certain of my seniors. But God overruling, I by 



TEE "CONFESSION" OF ST. PATRICK. 253 

no means consented or complied with them. It was not 
my grace, but God who conquered in me and resisted them 
all ; so I came to the Irish peoples, to preach the gospel 
and to suffer insults from unbelievers ; that I should listen 
to reproach about my wandering, and endure many perse- 
cutions, even to chains, and that I should give up my 
noble birth for the benefit of others. 

" 16. And if I be worthy, I am willing to lay down my 
life unhesitatingly and most gladly for his name; and 
there I wish to spend it even till death, if the Lord permit. 
For I am greatly a debtor to the Grod who has bestowed 
on me such grace that many people through me should be 
born again to God, and that everywhere clergy should be 
ordained for a people newly coming to the faith, whom 
the Lord took from the ends of the earth, as he had prom- 
ised of old by his prophets: *To thee the Gentiles will 
come and say. As our fathers made false idols, and there 
is no profit in them.' And again : ' I have set thee to be 
the light of the Gentiles, that thou mayest be for salvation 
unto the utmost parts of the earth.' And there I am 
willing to wait the promise of him who never fails, as he 
promises in the gospel: ^They shall come from the east 
and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac 
and Jacob,' as we believe that believers shall come from 
aU the world. 

" 17. Therefore it becomes us to fish well and diligently, 
as the Lord premonishes and teaches, saying : ^ Come ye 
after me, and I will make you fishers of men.' And again 
he says by the prophets : ^ Behold, I send my fishers and 
hunters, saith the Lord.' Therefore it is very necessary 



254 THE STOEY OF ST. PATRICK. 

to spread our nets, so that a copious multitude and crowd 
may be taken for Grod, and that everywhere there may be 
clergy who shall baptize and exhort a people needy and 
anxious, as the Lord admonishes and teaches in the gos- 
pel, saying : ' Going, therefore, teach ye all nations, bap- 
tizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Grhost — even to the end of the age.' And 
again : ^ Groing, therefore, into the whole world, preach the 
gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is bap- 
tized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be 
confounded.' And again: 'This gospel of the kingdom 
shall be preached in the whole world, for a testimony to 
all nations, and then shall the consummation come.' And 
also the Lord, foretelling by the prophet, says : ' And it 
shall be in the last days, saith the Lord, I will pour out of 
my Spirit upon all flesh : and your sons and your daughters 
shall prophesy, and your sons shall see visions, and your 
old men shall dream dreams. And upon my servants and 
upon my handmaids I will pour out in those days of my 
Spirit, and they shall prophesy.' And in Osee he says: 
*I will call that which was not my people my people, and 
her who had not obtained mercy; and it shall be in the 
place where it was said, You are not my people, there they 
shall be called the sons of the living God.' 

" 18. Whence, then, has it come to pass that in Ireland 
they who never had any knowledge, and until now have 
only worshiped idols and unclean things, have lately be- 
come a people of the Lord, and are called the sons of God ! 
Sons of the Scots and daughters of chieftains are seen to 
be monks and virgins of Christ. And there was even one 



THE "CONFESSION" OF ST. PATRICK. 255 

blessed Scottic lady, nobly born, very beautiful, of adult 
age, whom I baptized. And after a few days she came to 
us for a season, and intimated to us that she had secured 
a response from a messenger of God, and he advised her 
that she should be a virgin of Christ, and that she should 
always draw near to God. Thanks be to God, on the 
sixth day after that she most excellently and eagerly seized 
on that which also all the virgins of Christ do ; not with 
the will of their fathers — but they suffer persecution and 
false reproaches from their parents ; and notwithstanding- 
the number increases the more ; and of om^ own race, who 
were born there, there are those, we know not the number, 
besides widows and those who are continent. But those 
women who are detained in slavery especially suffer ; in 
spite of terrors and threats, they have assiduously per- 
severed. But the Lord gave grace to many of my hand- 
maids, for, although they are forbidden, they zealously 
imitate him. 

" 19. Wherefore, though I could wish to leave them, and 
had been most willingly prepared to proceed to the Bri- 
tains as to my country and parents ; and not that only, but 
even to go as far as to the Gauls, to visit the brethren and 
to see the face of the saints of the Lord — God knows that 
I greatly desired it : but I am bound in the Spirit, who^ 
witnesseth to me that if I should do this he would hold 
me guilty ; and I fear to lose the labor I have commenced ; 
and not I, but Christ the Lord, who commanded me to- 
come and be with them for the rest of my life. If the 
Lord will, and if he will keep me from every evil way, 
that I may not sin before him. But I hope to do that 



256 T^^ STOBY OF ST. PATRICE. 

which I ought ; but I trust not myself, as long as I am in 
this body, for strong is he who daily tries to subvert me 
from the faith, and from the chastity of religion proposed 
to myself, not feignedly, which I will observe to the end 
of my life, to Christ my Lord. But the flesh, which is in 
-enmity, always leads to death, that is, to unlawful desires 
to be unlawfully gratified. And I know in part that I 
have not led a perfect life, as other believers. But I con- 
fess to my Lord, and I do not blush before him, for I lie 
not : from the time I knew him in my youth the love of 
God and his fear have increased in me, and until now, by 
the favor of the Lord, ' I have kept the faith.' 



V. 

" 20. Let him who will, laugh and insult ; I will not be 
silent, nor will I hide the signs and wonders which were min- 
istered to me by the Lord many years before they came 
to pass, as he who knew all things before the world began. 

" But hence I ought to give thanks without ceasing to 
Ood, who often pardoned my ignorance and my negligence, 
-even out of place — not in one instance only — so that he 
was not fiercely angry with me, as being one who was per- 
mitted to be his helper. And yet I did not immediately 
yield to what was pointed out to me, and to what the 
Spirit suggested. And the Lord had pity on me among 
the thousands of thousands, because he saw in me that I 
was ready, but that in my case, for these reasons, I knew 
not what to do about my position; because many were 
hindering this mission, and already were talking among 



THE "CONFESSION" OF ST. PATRICK. 257 

themselves and saying behind my back, ^ Why does that 
fellow put himself in danger among enemies who know 
not God!^ Not as though they spoke for the sake of 
malice, but because it was not a wise thing in their opin- 
ion, as I myself also testify, on account of my defect in 
learning. And I did not readily recognize the grace that 
was then in me ; but now I know that I ought before to 
have been obedient to God calling me. 

" 21. Now, therefore, I have related simply to my breth- 
ren and fellow-servants who have believed me the reason 
I have preached, and do preach, in order to strengthen and 
confirm your faith. Would that you might aim at greater 
and perform mightier things ! This will be my glory, be- 
cause ^ a wise son is the glory of his father.' 

" You know, and God also, how I have conducted myself 
among you from my youth, both in the faith of the truth 
and in sincerity of heart. Even in the case of those 
nations among whom I dwell, I have always kept faith 
with them, and I will keep it. God knows I have never 
overreached none of them ; neither do I think of it, that 
is, of acting thus, on account of God and his church, lest 
I should excite persecution against them and us all, and 
lest through me the name of God should be blasphemed, 
because it is written, ' Woe to the man through whom the 
name of God is blasphemed.' Though I am unskilful in 
names, yet I have endeavored in some respects to serve 
even my Christian brethren, and the virgins of Christ, and 
religious women who have given to me small voluntary 
gifts and who have cast off some of their ornaments upon 
the altar, and I used to return these to them, although they 



258 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

were offended with me because I did so. But I did it for 
the hope of eternal life, in order to keep myself prudently 
in everything, so that the unbelieving may not catch me 
on any pretext, or the ministry of my service; and that 
even in the smallest point I might not give the unbeliev- 
ers an occasion to defame or depreciate me. 

" 22. But perhaps, since I have baptized so many thou- 
sand men, I might have expected half a screpall from some of 
them ? Tell it to me and I will restore it to you. Or when 
the Lord ordained everywhere clergy through my humble 
ministry, I dispensed the rite gratuitously. If I asked of 
any of them even the price of my shoe, tell it against me 
and I will restore you more. I spent for you that they 
might receive me; and among you and everywhere I 
traveled for your sake amid many perils — even to remote 
places, where there was no one beyond, and where no one 
else had ever penetrated — to baptize or ordain clergy or 
confirm the people. The Lord granting it, I diligently 
and most cheerfully for your salvation defrayed all things. 
During this time I gave presents to the kings, besides 
which I gave pay to their sons who escorted me; and 
nevertheless they seized me, together with my companions. 
And on that day they eagerly desired to kill me ; but the 
time had not yet come. And they seized all things that 
they found with us, and they also bound me with iron. 
And on the fourteenth day the Lord set me free from 
their power; and whatever was ours was restored to us 
for God's sake, and the attached friends whom we had be- 
fore provided. 

'^ 23. But you know how much I paid to those who acted 



THE "CONFESSION" OF ST. PATRICK. 259 

as judges throughout all the regions which I more fre- 
quently visited. For I think that I distributed among them 
not less than the hire of fifteen men. So that you might 
enjoy me, and I may always enjoy you, in the Lord, I do 
not regi'et it, nor is it enough for me — I still ' spend and 
will spend for your souls.' God is mighty, and may he 
grant to me that in future I may spend myself for your 
souls! Behold, ^I call God to witness upon my soul' 
' that I lie not ' ; neither that you may have occasion, nor 
because I hope for honor from any man. Sufficient to me 
is honor which is not belied. But I see that now ^ I am 
exalted by the Lord above measure' in the present age; 
and I was not worthy nor deserving that he should aid 
me in this, since I know that poverty and calamity suit 
me better than riches and luxuries. But Christ the Lord 
was poor for us. 

" But I, poor and miserable, even if I wished for riches, 
yet have them not, ^ neither do I judge my own self,' be- 
cause I daily expect either murder, or to be circumvented, 
or to be reduced to slavery, or mishap of some kind. But 
I ^fear none of these things' on account of the promises 
of the heavens ; but I have cast myself into the hands of 
the omnipotent God, who rules everywhere ; as saith the 
prophet, ^ Cast thy thought on the Lord, and he will sus- 
tain thee.' 

" 24. Behold now, I commend my soul to my most faith- 
ful God, for whom I discharge an embassage in my ignoble 
condition, because indeed he does not accept the person^ 
and he chose me to this office that I might be one of the 
least of his ministers. But ' what shall I render him for 



260 THE STOBY OF ST. PATRICK. 

all the things he hath rendered to me ? But what shall I 
say, or what shall I promise to my Lord ? Because I had 
no power unless he had given it to me, but he searches the 
heart and reins ; because I desire enough and too much, 
and am prepared that he should give me " to drink of his 
cup," as he has granted to others that love him. Where- 
fore may it never happen to me of my Lord, to lose his 
people whom he has gained in the utmost parts of the 
•earth.' I pray Grod that he may give me perseverance, 
and count me worthy to render myself a faithful witness 
to him even till my departure, on account of my God. 
And if I have ever imitated anything good, on account of 
my God whom I love, I pray him to grant me that with 
proselytes and captives I may pour out my blood for his 
name's sake, even though I myself may even be deprived 
of burial, and my corpse most miserably be torn limb from 
limb by dogs or by wild beasts, or that the fowls of heaven 
should devour it; I believe most certainly that if this 
should happen to me I shall have gained both body and 
soul. Because, without any doubt, we shall rise in that 
day in the brightness of the sun, that is, in the glory of 
Jesus Christ our Redeemer ; as ^ sons of the living God ' 
and ^ joint heirs with Christ,' and ^ to be conformable to 
his image,' ^for of him and through him and in him we 
shall reign.' 

" 25. For that sun which we behold, at God's command 
rises daily for us — but it shall never reign, nor shall its 
splendor continue ; but all even that worship it, miserable 
beings, shall wretchedly come to punishment. But we 
who believe in and worship the true Sun, Jesus Christ, 



THE ''CONFESSION" OF ST. PATRICK. 261 

who will never perish : neither shall he ' who does his will,' 
but shall continue forever, as Christ continues forever, 
who reigns with God the Father Almighty and with the 
Holy Spirit, before the ages, and now, and through all the 
ages of ages. Amen. 

" Behold, I will again and again declare briefly the words 
of my Confession ; I testify in truth and in joy of heart, 
before God and his holy angels, that I never had any 
reason except the gospel and its promises for ever re- 
turning to that people from whom I had formerly escaped 
with difficulty. 

" But I beg of those who believe and fear God, who ever 
shall deign or look into or receive this writing which Pat- 
rick, the sinner, unlearned indeed, has written in Ireland, 
that no one may ever say, if I have done or demonstrated 
anything according to the will of God, however little, that 
it was my ignorance which did it. But judge ye, and let 
it be most truly believed that it has been the gift of God. 
And this is my Confession before I die." 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

THE SECOND OF PATRICK'S WEITINOS, CALLED THE HYMN OR 

" BREASTPLATE." 

This Hymn is a composition of considerable force and 
beauty, written in a time when paganism was almost su- 
preme in Ireland. It was the general belief of that day 
that heathen sorcerers had mysterious powers by which 
they could harm their opponents ; and these reputed sor- 
cerers were gathered at Tara, a noted hill in County Meath, 
not many miles from Dublin. This Tara was the seat of 
the chief king of Ireland; there with the subkings was 
held the annual assembly ; and thither Patrick was moved 
to go and preach the gospel even at the risk of deadly 
peril. The expressions used in the Hymn correspond with 
the circumstances under which Patrick set out on his mis- 
sionary journey to Tara, to confront in its own stronghold 
the idolatry which was then rampant in the land. 

But while (many) writers attribute to Patrick the power 
of working greater miracles than were performed by any 
of the apostles of Christ, Patrick himself, according to the 
language of the Hymn, in anticipating the dangers that 
were before him, relied on no such powers, but only on the 
protecting hand of the G-od who has ever been a refuge 
and strength to his people. This Hymn partakes very 

262 



THE RYMN OB ''BREASTPLATE." 263 

mucli of the spirit of the Forty-sixth Psalra, of which Lu- 
ther was accustomed to say to those around him in times 
of trouble and danger, " Come, let us sing the Forty-sixth 
Psalm." 

This Hymn of Patrick was originally written in a very 
ancient dialect of the Irish language, and is known by the 
name of "Lorica" or "Breastplate," because its recital 
was supposed by the superstitious to guard a traveler, like 
a breastplate, from spiritual foes. It has been set to 
music as a sacred cantata, and was performed for the first 
time in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, March 17, 1888. 

It consists of eleven stanzas of varying length. 

The Hymn or " Breastplate.^'' 



" I bind myself to-day 

To a strong power, an invocation of the Trinity. 
I believe in a Threeness, with confession of a Oneness, 
in the Creator of Judgment. 

2. 

" I bind myself to-day 

To the power of the birth of Christ, with his baptism, 

^ To the power of the crucifixion, with his burial, 
To the power of his resurrection, with his ascension, 
To the power of his coming to the judgment of doom. 

3. 

" I bind myself to-day 

To the power of the ranks of cherubim, 

In the obedience of angels. 

In the service of the archangels. 

In the hope of resurrection unto reward, 

In the prayers of patriarchs. 

In the predictions of prophets. 



264 THE STOBY OF ST. PATRICK, 

In the preachings of apostles, 
In the faiths of confessors, 
In the purity of holy virgins, 
In the acts of righteous men. 

4. 

" I bind myself to-day 
To the power of Heaven, 
The light of sun, 
The brightness of moon, 
The splendor of fire. 
The speed of lightning, 
The swiftness of wind. 
The depths of the sea, 
The stability of the earth, 
The firmness of rocks. 

5. 

" I bind myself to-day 

To the power of Grod to guide me. 
The might of God to uphold me. 
The wisdom of God to teach me, 
The eye of God to watch over me, 
The ear of God to hear me. 
The word of God to speak for me, 
The hand of God to protect me. 
The way of God to lie before me. 
The shield of God to shelter me. 
The host of God to defend me. 

Against the snares of demons. 

Against the temptations of vices, 

Against the lusts of nature. 

Against every man who meditates injury to me, 

"Whether far or near, 

Alone and in a multitude. 

6. 

" I summon to-day around me all these powers 

Against every hostile merciless power directed against 
my body and my soul ; 



THE HYMN OB ''BREASTPLATE.'' 265 

Against the incantations of false prophets, 
Against the black laws of heathenism, 
Against the false laws of heretics, 
Against the deceit of idolatry, 

Against the spells of women and smiths and Druids, 
Against all knowledge which hath defiled man's body and 
soul. 

7. 
" Christ protect me to-day 
Against poison, against burning. 
Against drowning, against wound. 
That I may receive a multitude of rewards. 

8. 

" Christ with me, Christ before me, 
Christ behind me, Christ within me, 
Christ beneath me, Christ above me, 
Christ at my right, Christ at my left, 
Christ in breadth, Christ in length, 
Christ in height. 

9. 

" Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, 
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks to me, 
Christ in the eye of every man that sees me, 
Christ in the ear of every man that hears me. 

10. 
" I bind myself to-day 
To a strong power, an invocation of the Trinity. 
I believe in a Threeness, with confession of a Oneness, 
in the Creator of Judgment. 

11. 

" Salvation is the Lord's, 
Salvation is the Lord's, 
Salvation is Christ's. 
Let thy salvation, O Lord, be ever with us." 



266 T^^ STOBY OF ST. PATRICK. 

The last stanza is an antiphony — a response divided 
into two parts, sung alternately by the choir and congre- 
gation — the most ancient form of church music. All the 
preceding stanzas of the Hymn are in Irish ; the last is in 
Latin and reads thus : 

Domini est salus, Domini est salus, Christi est salus. 
Salus tua, Domine, sit semper nobiscum. 



CHAPTER XXXIY. 

THE THIKD GENUINE WEITING OF ST. PATKICK, HIS EPISTLE 

TO COBOTICUS. 

This letter was written in Latin to Coroticus, a barba- 
rous chieftain and pirate in Wales, who had made a descent 
on the shores of Ireland, slaying some of Patrick's con- 
verts and carrying others into captivity. It was prob- 
ably written about 475, when Patrick was an old man 
and had labored many years as a missionary. About 
twenty years ago a pillar was discovered in Wales with 
the name Coroticus inscribed upon it, the same Coroti- 
cus who was Patrick's correspondent. There is a rugged 
eloquence in his letter to this Welsh Nero, which comes 
home to the hearts of all who read the stirring and manly 
rebuke administered by the Irish apostle. 

The Epistle is a plain, frank arraignment of the great 
sin and crime of which Coroticus had been guilty in slay- 
ing the children of Grod and in perpetrating such enormi- 
ties upon those who had devoted themselves to Christ. 
Patrick contrasts the conduct of Coroticus with the con- 
duct of many of Patrick's converts who had sent money 
and gifts to purchase back those who had been taken cap- 
tive by barbarians in the northern and eastern part of 

267 



268 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICE. 

Gaul. Here is a paragraph from Patriek^s Epistle on this 
point : 

" It is the custom to send holy and suitable men to the 
Franks and to the other nations, with so many thousands 
of solidi, to redeem baptized captives — you, Coroticus, so 
often slay them, and sell them to a foreign nation that 
knows not Grod! You surrender members of Christ as 
into a den of lions ! What hope have you in God ! or he 
who either agrees with you or who uses to you words of 
flattery? God will judge." 

The Epistle to Coroticus, 

" 1. I, Patrick, a sinner, unlearned, declare indeed that I 
have been appointed a bishop in Ireland ; I most certainly 
believe that from God I have received what I am. I dwell 
thus among barbarians, a proselyte and an exile, on ac- 
count of the love of God. He is witness that it is so. Not 
that I desired to pour out anything from my mouth so 
harsh and severe, but I am compelled, stirred up by zeal 
for God and for the truth of Christ, for the love of my 
neighbors and sons, for whom I have abandoned country 
and parents, and my soul, even unto death, if I be worthy 
of such honor. I have vowed to my God to teach the 
peoples, although I be despised by some. 

" With my own hand I have written and composed these 
words, to be given and handed to the soldiers, to be sent 
to Coroticus — I do not say, to my fellow-citizens, and to 
the citizens of the Eoman saints, but to the citizens of 
demons, on account of their own evil deeds, who by hostile 



PATRICK'S EPISTLE TO COROTICUS. 269 

practice of barbarians live in death — companions of the 
Scots and apostate Picts, who stain themselves bloody 
with the blood of innocent Christians whom I have be- 
gotten without number to Grod, and have confirmed in 
Christ. 

" 2. On the day after that in which these Christians were 
anointed neophytes in white robes, while it, the anointing, 
was yet glistening on their foreheads, they were cruelly 
massacred and slaughtered with the sword by those above 
mentioned. And I sent a letter with a holy presbyter, 
whom I taught from his infancy, with other clergy, beg- 
ging them that they would restore to us some of the plun- 
der, or of the baptized captives whom they took ; but they 
laughed at them. Therefore I do not know what I should 
lament for the more, whether those who were slain, or 
those whom they captured, or those whom the devil has 
grievously ensnared with the everlasting pain of Grehenna, 
hell-fire, for they will be chained together with him; for, 
indeed, ' he who commits sin is a slave,' and is termed ^ a 
son of the devil." 

"3. Wherefore let every man fearing Grod know that 
they, the soldiers, are aliens from me, and from Christ my 
God, for whom I discharge an embassage — patricides, fra- 
tricides, ^ravening wolves' devouring the people of the 
Lord as the food of bread. As he says, the ungodly ^ have 
dissipated thy law. Lord.' Since in these last times Ire- 
land has been most excellently and auspiciously planted 
and instructed by the favor of Grod. I do not usurp other 
men's labors, but I have part with those whom he hath 
called and predestined to preach the gospel amid no small 



270 T^^ STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

persecutions, even to the end of the earth; although 
the enemy envies us, by the tyranny of Coroticus, who 
fears not God nor his priests whom he hath chosen, and 
committed to them that greatest, divine, subhme power, 
*Whom they bind upon earth, they are bound also in 
heaven.' 

" 4. I therefore earnestly beseech you who are holy and 
humble in heart not to flatter such persons, nor to take 
food or drink with them, nor to deem it right to take their 
alms, until they rigorously do penance with tears poured 
forth, and do make satisfaction to Grod, and liberate the 
servants of God, and the baptized handmaidens of Christ, 
for whom he was put to death and crucified. 

" ' The Most High reprobates the gifts of the wicked. . . . 
He that offereth sacrifice of the goods of the poor is as 
one that sacrificeth the son in the presence of his father.' 
^ The riches,' he says, ^ that he will collect unjustly shall 
be vomited from his belly ; the angel of death shall drag 
him off, the fury of dragons shall assail him, the tongue 
of the adder shall slay him, the inextinguishable fire shall 
devour him. And therefore, woe unto those that fill them- 
selves with things which are not their own ; ' or ^ what 
doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer 
the loss of his own soul ? ' 

"It were long to discuss texts one by one, or to run 
through the whole law to select testimonies concerning 
such cupidity. Avarice is a deadly sin : ^ Thou shalt not 
covet thy neighbor's goods.' A murderer cannot be with 
Christ. ^ Whosoever hateth his brother is termed a mur- 
derer,' or, ^He who loveth not his brother abideth in 



PATRICK'S EPISTLE TO COBOTICUS. 271 

death.' How much more guilty is he who has stained his 
hands with the blood of the sons of God — whom he lately 
acquii'ed in the ends of the earth, by the exhortation of 
our littleness ! 

" 5. Was it indeed without God, or according to the flesh, 
that I came to Ireland? Who compelled me? I was 
bound by the Spirit not to see again any of my kindred. 
Do I not love pious compassion, because I act thus toward 
that nation which once took me captive and laid waste 
the servants and handmaidens of my father's house ? I 
was a free man, according to the flesh; I was born of a 
father who was a decurio. For I bartered my noble birth 
— I do not blush nor regret it — for the benefit of others. 
In fine, I am a servant in Christ, given over to a foreign 
nation, on account of that ineffable glory of that perennial 
life which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And if my own 
friends do not acknowledge me — ^A prophet hath no 
honor in his own country.' 

" Perhaps they think we are not of the one sheepfold nor 
have the one God as Father. As he says, ' He that is not 
with me is against me ; and he that gathereth not with me 
scattereth.' It is not fitting that ^one destroys, another 
builds.' ' I do not seek those things which are my own.' 

" 6. Not my grace, but God, indeed, hath put this desire 
into my heart, that I should be one of the hunters or fish- 
ers whom of old God promised before in the last days. I 
am envied. What shall I do. Lord ? I am greatly despised. 
Behold, thy sheep are torn around me, and are plun- 
dered even by the above-mentioned robbers, by the order 
of Coroticus, with hostile mind. Far from the love of 



272 T^^ STORY OF ST. PATRICK, 

God is tlie betrayer of the Christians into the hands of 
the Scots and Picts. Ravening wolves have swallowed 
up the flock of the Lord, which everywhere in Ireland was 
increasing with the greatest diligence, and the sons of the 
Scots and the daughters of princes are monks and virgins 
of Christ in numbers I cannot enumerate. Wherefore the 
injury done to the righteous will not give thee pleasure 
here, nor will it ever give pleasure in the regions below. 

" 7. Which of the saints would not dread to be sportive 
or to enjoy a feast with such persons ! They have filled 
their houses with the spoil of the Christian dead. They 
live by rapine, they know not how to pity. Poison they 
drink, deadly food they hand to their friends and sons. 
As Eve did understand that she offered death to her hus- 
band, so are all those who do evil — they work out ever- 
lasting death and perpetual punishment. 

" It is the custom of the Roman and G-allic Christians to 
send holy and suitable men to the Franks and to the other 
nations, with so many thousands of solidi, to redeem bap- 
tized captives — you, Coroticus, so often slay them, and 
sell them to a foreign nation that knows not Grod ! You 
surrender members of Christ as into a den of wolves ! 
What hope have you in Grod ? or he who either agrees with 
you or who uses to you words of flattery ? 

" 8. God will judge. For it is written, ' Not only they 
who do evil, but also they who consent thereto, are to be 
condemned.' So I know not what I can say, or what I can 
speak further, concerning the departed sons of God, whom 
the sword has touched beyond measure severely. For it 
is written, ^Weep with them that weep,' and again, ^If 



PATRICK'S EPISTLE TO COEOTICUS. 273 

one member suffers, all the members suffer along with it.' 
Wherefore the church laments and bewails her sons and 
daughters whom the sword has not yet slain, but who 
have been carried to distant parts, and exported into far- 
off lands, where sin manifestly is shamelessly stronger — 
there it impudently dwells and abounds. There free-born 
Christian men having been sold are reduced to bondage — 
bondage, too, of the most worthless, the vilest and apostate 
Picts ! 

" 9. Therefore with sadness and sorrow I will cry out, O 
my most beautiful and beloved brethren and sons whom I 
begot in Christ — I cannot count you — what shall I do for 
you 1 I am not worthy before Cod or men to help ! The 
wickedness of the wicked has prevailed against us ! We 
are become as strangers. Perhaps they do not believe 
that we have partaken of one baptism, or that we have 
one God as Father. To them it is a disgrace that we have 
been born in Ireland, as he says, ' Have ye not one Cod — 
why have ye forsaken each his neighbor ? ' 

" Therefore I grieve for you, I do grieve, my most beloved 
ones. But again, I rejoice within myself, I have not la- 
bored in vain, and my pilgrimage has not been in vain, 
although a crime so horrid and unspeakable has happened. 
Thanks be to Cod, baptized believers, ye have passed from 
this world to paradise ! I see you have begun to migrate 
where there shall be no night, nor grief, nor death any 
more, but 'ye shall exult as calves let loose from their 
bonds, and ye shall tread down the wicked, and they shall 
be ashes under your feet.' 

" 10. Ye, therefore, shall reign with the apostles and pro- 



274 ^^^ STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

phets and martyrs, and obtain the eternal "kingdom, a« 
He himself testifies, saying: ^They shall come from the 
east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and 
Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.' ^Without 
are dogs, and sorcerers, and murderers, and liars, and per- 
jurers.' ^ Their part is in the lake of eternal fire.' Not 
without reason does the Apostle say : ' Where the just will 
scarcely be saved, where shall the sinner, and the impious, 
and the transgressor of the law find himself ? ' But where 
will Coroticus, with his most wicked rebels against Christ 
— where shall they see themselves ? When baptized women 
are distributed as rewards on account of a wretched tem- 
poral kingdom, which indeed in a moment shall pass away 
like clouds or smoke which is dispersed everywhere by 
the wind! So sinners and the fraudulent shall perish 
from the face of the Lord, but the just shall feast with 
great confidence with Christ ; they shall judge the nations, 
and shall rule over wicked kings forever and ever. Amen. 
" 11. I testify before God and his angels that it shall be 
so, as he has intimated to my ignorance. They are not 
my words, but those of God and of the apostles and pro- 
phets, which I have set forth in Latin — for they have 
never lied. *He that believeth shall be saved; but he 
that believeth not shall be condemned.' ^God hath 
spoken.' I entreat earnestly whosoever is a servant of 
God, that he may be prompt to be the bearer of this letter ; 
that it be in no way abstracted by any one, but far rather 
that it be read before all the people, and in the presence of 
Coroticus himself : to the^end that, if God should inspire 
them, that they may at some time return to God, or even 



PATRICK'S EPISTLE TO COBOTICUS. 275 

though late may repent of what they have done so impi- 
ously — murderers of brethren in the Lord — and may libe- 
rate the baptized captives whom they have taken before, so 
that they may deserve to live unto God, and may be made 
whole here and in eternity. Peace be to the Father, and 
the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen." 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

INDEX OF BIBLICAL TEXTS QUOTED BY ST. PATBICK OK KE- 
FEEBED TO IN HIS WBITINGS. 



Genesis xxviii. 20. 
Exodus XX. 13, 17. 
Leviticus xxiv. 16. 
Deut. xxxiii. 27. 

1 Samuel xii. 13. 

2 Samuel vii. 18. 
2 Samuel vii. 28. 
2 Samuel xii. 3. 
2 Kings vi. 17. 

2 Kings vii. 8. 
2 Chron. xxix. 10. 
Job XX. 15, 16. 
Psalms iii. 8. 
Psalms V. 6. 
Psalms vii. 9. 
Psalms xiv. 14. 
Psalms xviii. 12. 
Psalms xxxiv. 7. 
Psalms xxxix. 4. 
Psalms 1. 15. 
Psalms Iv. 22. 
Psalms lix. 8. 
Psalms Ix. 6. 
Psalms Ixv. 3. 
Psalms Ixix. 8. 
Psalms civ. 4. 
Psalms civ. 5. 
Psalms cvii. 25. 
Psalms cxvi. 12. 



Psalms cxix. 26. 
Psalms cxlviii. 1. 
Psalms cxlviii. 3. 
Psalms cxlviii. 7, 8. 
Proverbs x. 1. 
Proverbs xv. 20. 
Proverbs xvii. 17. 
Proverbs xviii. 5. 
Isaiah xxv. 9. 
Isaiah xxx. 18. 
Isaiah xxxii. 4. 
Isaiah xlv. 7. 
Isaiah xlix. 6. 
Isaiah xlix. 6. 
Isaiah Ixi. 2. 
Jeremiah xi. 20. 
Jeremiah xvi. 16. 
Jeremiah xvi. 19. 
Hosea i. 9, 10. 
Joel ii. 28, 29. 
Amos iii. 6. 
Habakkuk ii. 6. 
Malachi ii. 7. 
Malachi ii. 10. 
Malachi iv. 6. 
Tobit xii. 7. 
Wisdom i. 11. 
Ecclus. iv. 29. 
Ecclus. vii. 15. 



Eccl. xxxiv. 23, 24. 
Ecclus. xxxiv. 28. 
Matt. iii. 12. 
Matt. iv. 19. 
Matt. V. 26. 
Matt. viii. 11. 
Matt. X. 20. 
Matt. xii. 36. 
Matt. xiii. 30. 
Matt. xvi. 26. 
Matt, xviii. 18. 
Matt. XX. 22, 23. 
Matt. xxiv. 14. 
Matt, xxvii. 45. 
Matt, xxviii. 19, 20. 
Mark xv. 34. 
Mark xvi. 15, 16. 
Mark xvi. 28. 
John V. 21. 
John V. 44. 
John viii. 14. 
John viii. 20. 
John viii. 34. 
John viii. 44. 
John XX. 15, 16. 
John XX. 23. 
Acts ii. 17, 18. 
Acts vii. 53, 60. 
Acts X. 42. 



276 



INDEX OF BIBLICAL TEXTS, 



277 



Acts xiii. 8. 
Acts xiii. 47. 
Acts XV. 28. 
Acts xviii. 6. 
Acts XX. 22. 
Acts XX. 23. 
Acts XX. 29. 
Actsxxviii. 22,23. 
Romans i. 9. 
Romans i. 32. 
Romans ii. 16. 
Romans ii. 24. 
Romans v. 21. 
Romans vii. 24. 
Romans viii. 7. 
Romans viii. 11. 
Romans viii. 17. 
Romans viii. 26. 
Romans viii. 29. 
Romans viii. 34. 
Romans ix. 25, 26. 
Romans xi. 36. 
Romans xii. 1. 
Romans xii. 3. 
Romans xii. 25. 
Romans xiii. 9. 
Romans xv. 19. 
1 Cor. i. 26. 



1 Cor. iv. 3. 
1 Cor. xii. 26. 

1 Cor. XV. 10. 

2 Cor. i. 15-17. 
2 Cor. i. 23. 

2 Cor. iii. 3. 
2 Cor. viii. 9. 
2 Cor. X. 15. 
2 Cor. xii. 7. 
2 Cor. xii. 9. 
2 Cor. xii. 14. 
2 Cor. xii. 20. 
Galatians i. 20. 
Galatians ii. 2. 
Galatians ii. 6. 
Galatians iv. 11. 
Eph. ii. 21, 22. 
Eph. iii. 18, 19. 
Eph. iv. 5, 6. 
Eph. V. 10-17. 
Phil. ii. 9, 11. 
Colossians i. 16. 
Colossians iii. 16. 
1 Thess. ii. 10. 

1 Thess. V. 17, 18. 

2 Thess. ii. 16. 

1 Timothy v. 21. 

2 Timothy iv. 8. 



2 Timothy iv. 18. 
Titus iii. 6. 
Hebrews i. 14. 
Hebrews x. 23. 
James iv. 15. 
1 Peter i. 12. 
1 Peter ii. 5. 
1 Peter ii. 25. 
1 Peter iv. 11. 
1 Peter iv. 18. 
1 Peter iv. 19. 
1 Peter viii. 18. 
1 John ii. 1. 
1 John ii. 17. 
1 John iii. 14. 
1 John iii. 15. 
1 John iii. 16. 
Jude 10. 
Jnde 20. 
Rev. ii. 10. 
Rev. iv. 25. 
Rev. vii. 10. 
Rev. xiv. 4. 
Rev. xxi. 4. 
Rev. xxi. 8. 
Rev. xxii. 9. 
Rev. xxii. 15. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

THE DOUBTFUL BEMAINS OF PATEICK. 

J. Sayings of Patrick. 

"I had the fear of God as the guide of my Journey 
through the Grauls and Italy, even in the islands which 
are in the Tyrrhenian Sea." 

" From the world ye have passed on to paradise." 

" Thanks be to God ! " 

"The church of the Scots, nay, even of the Romans, 
(chant) as Christians; so, that ye may be Romans, (chant) 
as it ought to be chanted with you, at every hour of prayer, 
that praiseworthy sentence, ^ Lord have mercy upon us ! ' 
* Christ have mercy upon us ! ' " 

" Let every church that follows me chant, ^ Lord have 
mercy upon us ! ' ^ Christ have mercy upon us ! ' ' Thanks 
be to God!'" 

//. Proverbs of Patrick, 

1. " Patrick says : ^ It is better for us to admonish the 
negligent, that crimes may not abound, than to blame the 
things that have been done.' Solomon says : ^ It is better 
to reprove than to be angry.' " 

2. " Patrick says : ' Judges of the church ought not to 
have the fear of man, but the fear of God, because the 
fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.' " (Prov. i. 7.) 

278 



THE DOUBTFUL REMAINS OF PATRICK. 279 

3. " Judges of the church ought not to have the wisdom 
of this world, for ' the wisdom of this world is foolishness 
with God/ but to have ' the wisdom of Grod.' " (1 Cor. i. 21 ; 
iii. 19.) 

4. " Judges of the church ought not to take gifts, be- 
cause * gifts blind the eyes of the wise and change the 
words of the just.' " 

5. " Judges of the church ought not to respect a person 
in judgment, ' for there is no respect of persons with God.' " 
(Rom. ii. 11.) 

6. "Judges of the church ought not to have worldly 
wisdom, but divine examples (before them), for it does 
not become the servant of God to be crafty or cunning." 

7. " Judges of the church ought not to be so swift in 
judgment until they know how too true it may be which 
is written, ' Do not desire quickly to be a judge.' " 

8. " Judges of the church ought not to be voluble." 

9. " Judges of the church ought not to tell a lie, for a 
lie is a great crime." 

10. " Judges of the church ought ' to judge just judg- 
ment,' ^ for with whatever judgment they shall judge, it 
shall be judged to them.' " 

11. " Patrick says : ^Look into the examples of the elders, 
where you will find no guile.' " 

12. " Patrick says : ' Judges who do not judge rightly the 
judgments of the church are not judges, but falsifiers.'" 

III. The Story of Patrick and the Boy al Daughters. 

But thence went the holy Patrick to the spring which 
is called Clebach, on the sides of Crochan, toward the ris- 



280 THE STOBY OF ST. PATRICK. 

ing of the sun, before the rising of the sun, and they sat 
beside the spring. And behold, two daughters of Loe- 
gaire, Ethne the fair and Fedelm the ruddy, came to the 
spring in the morning, after the custom of women, to wash, 
and they found a holy synod of bishops with Patrick by 
the spring. And they did not know from whence they 
were, or of what shape, or of what people, or of what 
region. But they thought that they were men of the side^ 
or of the terrestrial gods, or an apparition. And the 
daughters said to them: "Whence are ye, and whence 
have ye come ? " 

And Patrick said to them: "It were better that you 
would confess our true Grod than to inquire about our 
race." 

The first daughter said : " Who is Grod ? And where is 
God ? And of what is God ? And where is his dwelling- 
place ? Has your God sons and daughters, gold and silver ? 
Is he ever-living ? Is he beautiful ! Have many fostered 
his Son ? Are his daughters dear and beautiful to the men 
of the world ? Is he in heaven or on earth ? In the sea % 
In the rivers ? In the mountains ? In the valleys ? Tell 
us, how is he seen ? How is he loved ? How is he found ? 
Is he in youth, or in age?" 

But holy Patrick, full of the Holy Spirit, answering, 
said: 

" Our God is the God of all men, the God of heaven and 
earth, of the sea and of the rivers ; the God of the sun and 
of the moon, of all the stars ; the God of the lofty moun- 
tains and of the lowly valleys ; the God over heaven, and 
in heaven, and under heaven. He has his dwelling toward 



THE DOUBTFUL REMAINS OF PATRICK. 281 

heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in 
them. He inspires all things. He gives life to all things. 
He surpasses all things. He supports all things. He kin- 
dles the light of the sun ; he strengthens the light of the 
moon at night for watches ; and he made springs in the 
arid land, and dry islands in the sea; and the stars he 
placed to minister to the greater lights. He has a Son 
coeternal with himself and like unto himself. The Son is 
not younger than the Father, nor is the Father older than 
the Son. The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit are not 
separated. I truly desire to unite you to the Heavenly 
King since ye are daughters of an earthly king. Believe 
(on him)." 

And the daughters said, as if with one mouth and heart : 

" How can we believe on the Heavenly King ? Teach 
us most diligently, so that we may see him face to face. 
Point out to us, and we will do whatsoever thou shalt say 
to us." 

And Patrick said : " Do you believe that the sin of your 
father and mother is taken away by baptism ? " 

They replied : " We do believe it." 

Patrick. " Do you believe there is repentance after sin 1 " 

Daughters, " We do believe it." 

Patrick. " Do you believe there is a life after death ? Do 
you believe in the resurrection on the day of judgment 1 " 

Daughters. " We do believe it." 

Patrick. " Do you believe in the unity of the church ? " 

Daughters. " We do believe it." 

And they were baptized, and (Patrick placed) a white 
garment on their heads. 



282 THE STORY OF ST. PATRICK. 

And they begged to see the face of Christ. 

And the saint said to them: "Unless you shall have 
tasted death, you cannot see the face of Christ, and unless 
you shall receive the sacrifice.'' 

And they replied : " Give to us the sacrifice, that we may 
see the Son our Spouse." 

And they received the Eucharist of Grod, and they slept 
in death. And they placed them in a bed covered with 
one mantle, and their friends made a wailing and a great 
lamentation. . . . And the days of the wailing for the 
daughters of the king were ended, and they buried them 
by the spring Clebach ; and they made a round ditch in the 
likeness of a grave, because so the Scottic men and Gen- 
tiles used to do ; but with us it is called relic^ that is, the 
remains diU^feurt 

IV, Patrick^ s Vision of the Future of Ireland. 

And the man of God was anxiously desiring and ear- 
nestly praying that he might be certified of the present and 
future state of Hibernia, to the end that he might know 
with what devotion of faith he was burning, and also the 
value of his labor in the sight of God. Then the Lord 
heard the desire of his heart and manifested that which 
he sought for unto him by an evident revelation. 

For while he was engaged in prayer and the heart of his 
mind was opened, he beheld the whole island as it were a 
flaming fire ascending unto heaven, and he heard the angel 
of God saying unto him : " Such at this time is Hibernia 
in the sight of the Lord." 



THE DOUBTFUL REMAINS OF PATRICK. 283 

And after a little space he beheld in all parts of the island 
conelike mountains of fire stretching unto the skies. And 
again, after a little space, he beheld as it were candlesticks 
burning, and after a while darkness intervened, and then 
he beheld scanty lights, and at length he beheld coals lying 
hidden here and there, as reduced unto ashes, yet appear- 
ing still burning. 

And the angel added : " What thou seest here shown in 
different states are the Irish nations." Then the saint, 
weeping exceedingly, repeated often the words of the 
Psalmist, saying : " Will God cast off forever, and will he 
be no more entreated ! Shall this mercy come to an end 
from generation to generation ? Shall Grod forget to be 
merciful, and shut up his mercy in his displeasure ? " 

And the angel said : " Look toward the northern side, 
and on the right hand of an height shalt thou behold the 
darkness dispersed from the face of the light which thence- 
forth will arise." 

Then the saint raised his eyes, and behold, he at first 
saw a small light arising in Ulidia, the which struggled a 
long time with the darkness, and at length dispersed it and 
illumined with its rays the whole island. Nor ceased the 
light to increase and to prevail even until it had restored 
to its former fiery state all Hibernia. 

Then was the heart of St. Patrick filled with joy and his 
tongue with exultation, giving thanks for all these things 
which had been shown unto him by grace. And he under- 
stood, in the greatness of this fiery ardor of the Christian 
faith, the devotion and the zeal for religion wherewith 
those islanders burned. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

MIRACLES AND LEGENDS. 

The following are some of the miracles attributed to 
St. Patrick, as having been wrought by him, and some 
of the legends that several writers have recorded concern- 
ing him. These are in addition to the few we have given 
in " The Story of St. Patrick." 

Lives of Patrick written in the fourth, fifth, and sixth 
centuries after Patrick's death abound in the recital of 
miracles wrought by Patrick, but there is not the slight- 
est reference in his own writings to any miracles wrought 
by him. 

For example, it is recorded, in notes on Patrick's life 
written about three hundred vears after his death, when 
Patrick was contending with the magicians of King Loe- 
gaire (or Leary) at Tara, that he raised Daire's horse 
to life, after dying because of his trespass on the ground 
given by Daire to Patrick at Armagh for religious pur- 
poses; that a dead man in his grave spoke to Patrick; 
that an angel appeared to Patrick as to Moses in the 
burning bush ; that when water flooded his mother's floor, 
fire dropped from his fingers and every drop of water was 
dried up ; that when his mother wanted some firewood the 
boy Patrick brought ice in his arms and kindled a rous- 
ing fire with it ; that his sister Lupita fell and bruised her 
forehead, and Patrick healed the wound in an instant; 
that when Patrick was herding his father's sheep a wolf 
came and stole one of the finest lambs : his father reproved 
Patrick, who prayed all night, and lo ! in the morning the 
roguish wolf brings back the lamb, lays it unhurt at Pat- 

284 



MIRACLES AND LEGENDS. 285 

rick's feet, and then flees to the wood ; that Patrick changed 
butter into honey and passed through shut doors; that 
when the cruel lord of Dunbriton ordered Patrick's aunt 
to do the slavish job of cleaning out his fortress and sta- 
bles, Patrick, though only a lad, came forward like a man, 
and by miracle made such a riddance of all trash that none 
was ever found afterward in the whole establishment ; that 
when he had his head shorn, and the tonsure marked him 
as one of the lower clergy, he grew wise in church disci- 
pline and learned to convert flesh into fish. When he asked 
to dwell in a solitary cave with three other Patricks, they 
told him that he could not unless he would draw water from 
a certain fountain that was guarded by a very savage wild 
beast. He agrees to draw the water, goes to the fountain, 
the ravenous beast sees him, gives signs of great joy, and 
becomes quite tame and gentle. Patrick draws the water 
and returns with a blessing. That he v/as offered a staff as 
a precious relic, which had the power of preserving in all 
the freshness of youth those who sacredly kept it ; he re- 
fused taking it unless he should receive it from the Lord 
himseK, and three days afterward the Lord gave it to him 
to qualify for the conversion of Ireland. 

He then visited Eome, was ordained a bishop by the 
pope, given the name of Patrick, and sent on his great 
mission, on which he soon started with a fair supply of 
relics, which, some of his biographers will have it, Patrick 
filched from the pope. Three choirs then sang praises — 
one in heaven, another in Eome, and a third in the wood 
of Erin, where the children were still calling for the saint 
to come and bless them. 



286 T^^ STOEY OF ST. PATRICK. 

That on one occasion when his horses were lost, St. 
Patrick raised up his hand, his five fingers illumined the 
whole plain as if they were five lamps, and the horses were 
found at once ; that a goat bleated out of the stomachs of 
men who had eaten it up, and, according to a later embel- 
lishment, came alive out of their mouths; that when a 
tooth fell out of St. Patrick^s head the tooth shone in the 
ford like the sun; while, on another occasion, Coroticus, 
the king of the Britons, was changed into a fox. 

The "Holy Stone" of Ireland is the name given to a 
famous stone possessed at Ardmore in County Waterford, 
Ireland. The legend asserts that this stone floated over 
the ocean from Eome to St. Patrick, bringing to him his 
sacred vestments, a bell for his church, and a lighted can- 
dle for the Mass. It is now held sacred to the memory of 
the saint. It is upon, the sea-shore, is a large stone weigh- 
ing perhaps some four or five tons, and is much visited 
by pilgrims. At low tide, when, only, the lower part of the 
stone can be seen, these visitors go round it several times 
on their knees, and finally, lying flat, creep through a hol- 
low of sand that has been made under it. 



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